European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 12, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Groundbreaking Marine. -. Off i a i \ military s highest ranking woman is member or the corps Bojoh Brinkley Scripps Howard news service Bove the front door of a dreary looking red Brick building at the Quantico Marine base in Northern Virginia hangs a Plain red Flag with two White stars. This notifies visitors and passers by that. The building houses the Headquarters of a two Star general. What it does t Tell them is that this particular two Star is maj. Gen. Carol a. Mutter the highest ranking woman in the United states military the first woman to get two stars from the Marine corps. That mutter has managed to reach this lofty position in the Marine corps rather than the army or the air Force is particularly impressive the marines traditionally have been looking for a few Good men no women. Moreover female generals throughout the military have. Heretofore come  administrative positions in the personnel Field. Mutter is the first woman in any service to make general after having toiled in the hard Core technical Field said retired army Gen. Wilma Vaught. Mutter s background is in logistics and technology in that sense Carol mutter s promotion is just extraordinarily significant Vaught said. V it s both an Honor and a responsibility mutter said of her promotion to major general this june. Certainly you can t get by the fact of the Honor of the  also it gives me opportunities i think to have some influence in some areas where there might need to be some More changes benefiting women. Mutter 48, is the Lone woman among the marines 68 generals. She also is one of Only 639 female Marine officers out of a total of 18,430. Nonetheless she does t think women have it All that bad in the Marine corps at least not compared to 27 years ago when she was commissioned. You could not have children and stay on Active duty at that time. You could t even marry a Man who had children and stay on Active duty she said. That was. In 1967. And shortly after that was when the women s liberation movement really took off in the country. And we saw the results in the military. A lot of things changed As society changed."., she cites As Progress the fact that the corps was .1 percent women in 1-967 and 4.5 percent today. Mutter says she had t been very Active in military women s issues unti recent years when i became More senior and a Little bit More visible and so i be gotten More  she said her involvement consists of trying to keep current with military women s concerns and of trying to be kind of a conduit for  Linda Bird Francke a new York writer who is working on a Book about women in the military met mutter in 1991 and was startled by the experience. I introduced her to a Young Lance Corporal female who was in the throes of a sexual harassment Case against the marines in which she was successful. And they talked to each other in that absolutely stilted military Way in which no one says anything. You get these heraldic phrases i know this is Tough for you and this is a Tough world and this is what we were assigned to do they just talk that Way. It s just so incredibly  if mutter Felt any empathy for the Corporal she did t show it Francke said. But that s the thin line that femal e military officers have to walk because they have nothing to fall Back on except their professionalism Francke added. Mutter said the marines continue to improve things All the time for women and her being the top women in the military gives me the Opportunity to try to influence some of those  they include the placement of women on ships in combat support positions and the continuing debate Over whether women should be allowed in combat units. Those seem to be moving in the right direction mutter said. But she does not believe that women belong in combat. I Don t think we re ready As a nation to have women in front line units with rifles and fixed bayonets she said. However i think the face of combat May change to an extent As we evolve through this process. If you look at the science fiction and Star a ars types of weapons system sit s a different kind of combat that we might get into in the future.". V. /. V v -.-. Also i think if we had to fight on our own Home soil As other countries have had to do we might look at the women s role a lot differently by necessity. Although mutter said she tries to keep plugged in with what military women Are thinking what their concerns Are that is not her Job. She is commander of the Marine corps systems come which is responsible for everything from trenching tools to tanks a.\. ". The systems command Mission is to do the research and development and acquisition on All new systems for the Marine corps except aircraft. That includes individual equipment rifles tanks trucks sleeping bags tents anything that a Marine might need deployed in a combat environment she said. Mutter who grew up on a farm near Eaton colo., maj. Gen. Carol a. Mutter is the Lone female among the marines 68 generals. Graduated from Northern Colorado University in Creeley in 1967 and entered the Marine corps As a second lieutenant. In 1967, most newly commissioned Marine officers were headed for Vietnam but not mutter. Th0 marines sent her to Quantico to attend the woman officer Basic course then to work in data processing there and at Camp Pendleton near san Diego. In those Days there was a feeling that you were looked at twice that you had to prove yourself a Little More than your male counterparts she said. But i really kind of expected that i just always kind of took it As though i belonged there As much As they the men did and i acted that Way and that s the Way i was treated and people did not make me feel like i did t belong in general.". Mutter has made a lot of stops along the Way to Quantico or More accurately Back to Quantico. This is her sixth posting there. She did a stint in the late 1980s with the . Space Cpd in Colorado Springs and most recently was commander of the 3rd Force service support group Fleet Marine Force Pacific in Okinawa Japan making her the first female Marine to command a deployable unit. V v -. I commanded the logistics element. My Job was to support the ground support division and air Wing and the rest of the me Marine expeditionary forces logistically mutter said. Even though her present Job is More prestigious mutter suggested her work in Okinawa was More fulfilling. To be in command of that kind of a Large professional organization who Are very Busy accomplishing very real things Day in and Day out that s got a lot of satisfaction to it Here it s a Little bit harder. Of course i Haven t been Here very Long yet she said earlier this summer. But it s harder to see the results of your  mutter is married to a retired Marine colonel who she said is a driving Force in her life. As her career has progressed if i Ever said no i Don t want to do that he d say no you have to it s a role frankly that i Don t think very Many men could  marines on the go members of the super stallion task Force provide Protection for Secretary of defense William Perry in Entebbe Uganda. President Clinton takes the Helm of a destroyer during a labor Day tour of Bath Iron works in Maine. Clinton s Pentagon continued from Page 15 presumed in Clinton s projected budget requests. Those higher raises could Chew up More than $12 billion of Clinton s $1.3 trillion five year defense plan which even Perry and his senior aides regard As extremely tight. Perry contends that the administration it should raise its projected defense requests to cover the higher Cost. It s a Quality of life Issue Perry said in an interview contending that the higher pay raises were needed to preserve the combat readiness that the administration touts As its top defense ,. -.".  priority. Erosion of the  Quality of life would sap morale discourage re enlistments and thus undermine readiness a few year s Down the Road Perry maintains. Privately other spending cuts totalling $31 billion through fiscal 1999. T reductions apply to discretionary spending which includes both the defense budget and non mandatory Domestic programs. The action grew out of a Senate amendment to the budget Resolution sponsored by Sens. Jim Exon d-neb., and Charles Grassley a Lowa. Because the Pentagon spends roughly half the discretionary funds from which the cuts would be made most observers believe that it also will absorb a significant portion of the reduction. More broadly the Exon Pentagon officials Are deeply sceptical that the Clinton team will boost future defense requests in the current fiscal climate. If those sceptics Are right the funds for larger pay increases May be drawn from the weapons procurement and development accounts that have borne the Brunt of Pentagon budget cuts since 1985.earlier this year Congress raised the bar As Well by mandating in its budget Resolution additional Federal thus far Clinton has fended off challenges to his defense programs from the left with the help of a solid Alliance of congressional republicans and centrist democrats. Crassly amendment highlights members enthusiasm for. Deficit reduction especially when they can support it in the abstract without singling out where the a should fall. The anti deficit Fervour suggests that Congress will be no More willing to increase defense spending next year even if the november election boosts cop numbers in the Senate and House. There s a lot of sentiment for More defense spending out there but it s in a vacuum says one gop defense specialist. You can t put the votes together because of the need to identify offsetting cuts in popular Domestic programs. There s just no Way to  Scripps Howard news service 16 the stars and stripes monday september 12, 1994 the stars and stripes 17