European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 1, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 1,. 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary William p. Lawrence Laws Banning women in combat must go the True Issue is not whether women should be involved in combat. They have already served in combat with great credit i might add in Grenada Panama and the persian Gulf. Women currently constitute about 11 percent or 225,000, of the personnel in the armed services. Their roles Are so Broad and so vital to military functions that they will be extensively involved in any future conflict. The principal problem that must be solved is that the 1948 Law governing the role of women in the military has become totally outmoded and inappropriate As the roles and numbers of women have been expanded Over the past 40 years. The Law must be modified or abolished if for no other reason than its provisions Are being regularly broken. For example title x of the . Code defines the roles and missions of the . Armed forces. Section 6015 stipulates that Navy and Marine corps women May not be assigned to duty in vessels or in aircraft engaged in combat missions and Section 8549 stipulates that air Force women May not be assigned to duty in aircraft so engaged. No other provisions in title x mention women so the restrictions on the roles of women in ground units Are based solely on the policies of the services concerned. Those sections of title x were extensively violated in the recent Middle East War. Women helicopter pilots in the army flew numerous resupply missions into hostile fire zones in Iraq and Kuwait. Women air Force pilots and aircrews flew in airborne warning and control system aircraft As Well As in flight refuelling tankers within Range of enemy aircraft surface to air missiles and anti aircraft artillery. Women served in Navy logistics ships which were regularly re supplying the aircraft Carrier Battle groups in the persian Gulf and red sea that were constantly in risk of being damaged by enemy mines missiles and bombs. Were not All of these cases combat missions when the Navy opened Oil tankers and ammunition ships to women in 1988, a a work around had to be developed to prevent the appearance of an obvious contravention of the Law because those ships commonly operate in Battle zones and High risk areas. So the problem was solved semantically. The department of defense issued a policy that women would not serve in roles in which they would be involved in a direct combat with the enemy. It has never been Clear to me what a direct combat Means. For example if a Navy Tanker or ammunition ship or an air Force a acs aircraft is hit by an enemy missile is that not a direct combat to the people serving in those aircraft who Are killed or injured the distinction Between a direct combat or a indirect combat is not very meaningful. It would be very difficult to convince army maj. Rhonda Cornum who was shot Down and captured on a helicopter Rescue Mission in Iraq that she was not involved in direct combat it so the Laws and policies governing the roles of women in the military Are not Only irrelevant they have become absurd. It will be difficult to modify them a because wording would probably be developed that is not better than we have now. So the Only logical course is to delete sections 6015 and 8549 of title x. Once this is accomplished the Secretary of defense would be completely free to employ women As he or she feels is most appropriate. Thorough analyses of women a past performance could be made and then the Secretary in close consultation with the president Congress and the military services could carefully assess the future roles of women. They would consider social attitudes recruitment training physical strength and endurance requirements habitability factors and the like. No one would  immediately to insert women into positions they have not filled before such As infantry Armor and tactical aircraft units until this process had been completed. Women feel they have considerably More to contribute in the military than they Are currently permitted to do. But As in the past they arc willing to be patient and allow changes to be made that arc based on proven performance and need. They just done to want ridiculous artificial barriers to be placed in their path. William p. Lawrence is a retired Navy vice Admiral c the Washington pos Sydney Schanberg Campus sex Case More than just obnoxious in a not going to try to speculate on Why the jury acquitted the three st. Johns University Lacrosse players charged with sexually abusing for several hours a woman classmate who had been plied with liquor and was at times not conscious. Mind Reading is not a fruitful Pursuit for a journalist. All we can do construe timely is look to the comments of the principals a jurors lawyers defendants families a for clues to our cultures sexual mind set. The jury Foreman said the panel found the defendants behaviour a a obnoxious but not criminal. This new definition of a a obnoxious bodes ill for future victims of sexual assaults and degradation. The defense lawyers argued that no crimes were committed during the night of March 1, 1990, in the off Campus student House called a Trump Plaza a where the three husky defendants lived. The lawyers said that the slight Black woman student from Jamaica n.y., where the University is located consented to whatever sexual acts took place. This is the time honoured strategy of defense attorneys in rape and other sex crime cases she went there voluntarily did no to she she drank the Vodka and Orange soda did no to she so she wanted to fool around did no to she it does no to matter that she said she was passed out much of the time while the men per formed Oral sex on her a because she brought the whole thing on herself did no to she Gene Grandinetti father of one of the defendants gave us some More clues perhaps unintentionally As he talked to a reporter after the acquittal verdict. He was quoted As saying a to this Day i real. By done to know what happened. My son never confided in me. He spoke to his lawyer. The lawyer said a your son did not commit sodomy. He did something stupid a and he let it go at  this Isnit one of those modern broken families we Are always lamenting about in editorials. This is an old fashioned nuclear family with Mother and father and Home intact. Yet the father and son never talked about the ugly sex crime charges against the son. The son talked Only to his lawyer. Three students one of whom was a participant in the debauchery and who pleaded guilty to a Misdemeanour As part of a Deal with the prosecution for his testimony told the court that they were present in the off Campus House and witnessed the defendants sexually abusing the woman. One said she was so debilitated by the alcohol that she lapsed frequently into unconsciousness and even when conscious could not stand. The woman testified that she had been disrobed fondled and sodomized by at least seven st. Johns students. She said she awoke at one Point to see two of her assailants wearing halloween masks. At another Point during forced sodomy she said a i   she told also of trying to break away Only to be a a pinned forcibly by one defendant. Toward the end she said she heard her abusers discussing How to handle any fallout. Her account a what if she talks a said one. Another responded a so what remember Tawana Brawley. Nobody believed  Tawana Brawley was the Black teenager from upstate new York who made National headlines when she charged that she had been raped by a group of White men. A grand jury concluded that she made it All up. The Rev. Herbert Daughtry who has become family Counselor to the Young woman said a i think folks have Tawana Brawley on their minds. They done to want t6 get caught Short  still More clues to the verdict come perhaps from the persistent talk on the st. Johns Campus that this kind of a a orgy was not All that uncommon. After the verdict a Law student John Grisafi told a reporter that he had a heard Many stories of similar things happening with people in fraternities and on  he was not disapproving however a seeing what in be seen it was a Good decision by the jury. I think they should have been acquitted because people tend to think differently when you have alcohol and this sort of thing happens All the time. She consented one Way or the other. Why should three Young men have to sit in jail a from across the country we keep hearing increasing stories of a Date rape and a acquaintance rape on College campuses everywhere. Is this a new phenomenon or rather an old one bubbling into Wiir consciousness because of heightened sensitivities about the rights of women and their demand for equal respect it is probably Tho latter a a result of raised awareness. But still i find myself confused. If our consciousness about women As equals has been sharpened then How does a jury in new York find that a night of sexual debauchery committed by a Bunch of College athletes upon a Young woman student is nothing More than an act of obnoxious Ness c Cox nows service the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government