European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A a a a a. A a a a a. Quot. A. A a. A amps Cindy Wilton marines train at Quantico va., for the real thing not Tom Tom beating in the  men from the cover male Softie has roared through Newsweek abcs 20/2 and a Bevy of talk till you drop shows. Prime Timeto programs As diverse As Murphy Brown Northern exposure Home improvement and Star a trek have also taken a peek at the wimp find american male psyche and searched for his inner wild Man soul. A landmark 1990 pcs profile of Robert Bly and his gathering of men seminars gave those who debate Man issues a new vocabulary. Phrases like zeus Energy Interior wild Man outer Warrior add fuel to pop psychic fires. Ably who has become the guru of the male introspective craze also wrote its Bible a Best seller in 1991 called Iron John a Book about men. In it he gives a yardstick to measure the process of moving from boyhood to manhood. Its notches include leaving mama picking up on dads vibes following a Mentor being humbled passing a rite of initiation and learning to be a True Warrior. In his Hook Bly takes a poetic analytical and philosophical took at a fairy tale that is Little known to americans. In it a hairy wild Man becomes a Mentor to a boy who frees him from a Cage then guides the youth to becoming a True Warrior Many men who Start to read it do not get past the first 50 pages before they put it Down go to the refrigerator for a Beer burp and close the Book for Good. A a a a a a a what has Alt this to do with the american Mili vary Well it seems that the purveyors of the drumming marathons and Spear fighting sessions Are directly or indirectly implying that the last True bastion of real manhood is in today a military. But it is not All that simple. Soldiers airmen sailors and marines a they do not need to beat Drums in the Woods and find their inner wild Man souls. After Alt a the marines build  today a military does the real thing in the deserts of Kuwait in the skies Over Iraq on ships in the persian Gulf and in the streets of Somalia. And oops perhaps the folks Back Home forgot one in 10 people in today a military is female. Service women cringe when they hear the military builds Man line. In today a politically Correct gender in specific workouts women train Side by Side with the hairier Homo Sapiens. Their grunts sweat and fears make them no less the warriors they say. According to Bly Many women today Are More a real men than some men Are. This lamentable or commendable fact no doubt stems from a women a liberation movement that shifted into High gear a Quarter Century ago. Among other things it gave those Barefoot pregnant and in the Kitchen an awareness of their talents. It gave them  to put on their High heels or combat Boot stake the Pill and step out into a Many a world. Later they told their daughters they could do the same. A meanwhile men got soft. They were kneaded by a society that taught them to please those mothers and girlfriends like Little boys. Their Warrior selves were lost. Men were asked to learn How to go with the flow How to follow rather than Lead How to be vulnerable How to adopt consensus decision making. They were told when to take out the trash. They were tamed. A a grown Man 6 feet tall will allow another person to Cross his boundaries enter his psychic House verbally abuse him Carty away his treasures and slam the door behind a Bly wrote in his Book that stayed on the new York times Best seller list for 62 weeks. Worse a the invaded Man will stand there with an ingratiating confused smile on his  Why american sons do not have enough father is one reason according to Bly a 67-year-old Harvard trained poet and one time Sailor. In tribal societies fathers and sons have a symbiotic relationship. In our modern culture boys do not Sec their. Fathers work a what they make with their hands. They do not get a Chance to gain from his male spirit and maturity. At most All a dad is Able to pass on to a son As he drags his weary body through the door each night is that the corporate world has beaten him to a pulp. Sons from broken families or those on the City streets do not have Strong mentors who can teach them a High moral code. Joanne Coley of Kaiserslautern Germany says that she tried but she is not so sure a woman can fill that role of Mentor. She taught teen age boys at an a alternative school Quot in Silverdale wash., near the puget sound naval shipyard for two years. The teens expelled from Public High schools were a emotionally broken Quot she said. Most came from shattered Homes or their dads were always out at sea. A a a a a a a a. A Coley attempted to teach them that adulthood would come when they quit the constant boasting and posturing typical of Street Wise teens. A when you Are honest with yourself and you re honest with another person doors open wider a advised Coley a former army brat who has kept a journal of life a Wisdom since she was a teen herself. A people still like you when you Are not walking around like Joe  male liberation Calls for men to free themselves from sex role stereotypes that limit their ability to be human says William Badger a program specialist with the family support Center at Rhein main a Germany. He organized a men s support group last year called the male mystique. It was a Flop. He had hoped it would give airmen an Opportunity to a look at men s  five men signed ii but after a few sessions the men stopped coming. They would talk Only about their jobs responsibilities or accomplishments Badger said. He had planned to get into issues like a men done to cry and a men done to have  but those who attended never dropped their Shields. No Barry Manitou stuff for them. When the talk came to feelings the men became nervous. They crossed and re crossed their legs and fidgeted Badger observed. A in the Macho military that we have in the air Force a Man is not going to admit that he has feelings and that his feelings Are  a person going to a male support group has to admit a maybe i have some problems that i have to work on. Maybe in a not 100 percent. That a hard for anyone but especially a  a Man is his Job. As Long As things Are going Well in his work he feels that he is doing Well. When that changes so does his attitude about his self Worth. Ask any i trying to get a Job in the civilian world. In the military each Job is important. In the air Force for example Badger said Quot it does no to matter if you re a Cook or you re pumping Gas Over at the Gas station Jet fuel into aircraft or if you re repairing those aircraft or you re flying them. All those other jobs Are important to get that air plane into the air. That a our Mission a Many military people Lead straight Arrow lives have tense driven personalities and do what needs to be done according to Badger. Ribbons and stripes Are visible indicators of their professional skills therefore of their real Man Ness. Self Worth is institutionalized. A in six Short weeks if you do what you re told keep your nose clean and be on schedule Well pro Mote you. You la get a pay raise and you la get to Wear a different Stripe a Badger told prospective recruits when he was an air Force Recruiter in new York. He says that it is still True. A at certain Points beyond that advancement is built into your stay in the air  Badger remembers a Marine Recruiter he worked with. The no had two oversized footprints painted on the floor in front of his desk. He would Tell his recruits a stand in those  the prospective recruits Little shoes would fail Short of filling the bogus Marine boots. Then the Recruiter forcing his words through a Jack Nicholson kind of smile would say Quot you think you could be a Man in the Marine corps a. A humbling experience for the Marine Wannabe to say the least. Nevertheless a Ful truth for Many service people who run the Gauntlet of Basic training and advancement. They Are stripped of their childish identities and armed to be warriors. Many military people interviewed for this Story flinched at what they called a common Hollywood misconception of the Modem Warrior. Discipline Honor and teamwork were among the weapons of today a Warrior they said. Author Bly makes the distinction Between the outer and inner Warrior. The outer Warrior is the one who Battles with zeus Energy. That whirlwind Force is the primal wild Man. But the inner Warrior pm a bodies the cunning and strategy needed to slay dragons. Bly also advises never give a sword to a Man who can to dance he cautions that the real Man must use the inner Warrior a armed with Honor intellect and an appreciation of Beauty a to control the outer Warrior. A s is that is just what military training is about. A i am a trained professional Quot he or she says Over and Over again. That includes everything from handling a weapon to driving a vehicle to learning procedures on How to react in an environment threatened by nuclear and biological warfare. According to Blye no one can say a i ate bran muffins and found the wild  nor can a person say a i am a Soldier thus i am a real  reaching manhood adulthood is a complicated process. Page 4. Sunday january 23.1994