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Show Aug. 6, 7992 harassment hot topics Combat-exclusionMcPeak says men have problem ordering women into combat, but admits exclusion hurts careers by TSgt. Sarah L. Hood Air Force News Service - McPeak said. " - courts-marti- al "I guess we could start over again," he said. Ten years ago 2 percent of the Air Force were women. But the Air Force could not accomplish the mission without the participation and active contributions of its women members, he said. Performing the mission depends on the contributions of both women and men. Activities that get between the people and the mission will not be tolerated, McPeak said. Consequently, the Air Force policy toward sexual harassment is zero tolerance. People are trained and educated to abide by that policy and, historically, proven violators face stern action. 66 . Despite some opinions that discrimination in the services will not be gender resolved until the combat exclusion law is eliminated, the Air Force chief of staff maintains he is reluctant to order women into combat where they would have to kill other people. "I'm afraid that, even though logic tells us that women can do that as well as men, I have a very traditional attitude about wives and mothers and daughters being ordered to kill people," Gen. Merrill A. McPeak told the House Armed Services Committee Policy Panel and Personnel Subcommittee. The Air Force chief of staff and the other service chiefs went before Congress July 30 to describe how each service handles sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination against women. The Air Force had 304 complaints of sexual harassment in 1989, 311 in 1990 and 361 in 1991. This year, 193 complaints have been filed. On an average, 70 percent of those complaints are confirmed, McPeak said. Confirmed complaints in 1989, 14 in 1990 and resulted in six 21 so far this year. Also, there were 21 Articles 15 in 1990 and 66 in 1991. Although there is a bumper crop of sexual harassment problems throughout the military, McPeak would still prefer not to send women into combat. WASHINGTON Hilltop Times I'm afraid that, even though logic tells us that women can perform in combat as well as men, I have a very traditional attitude about wives and mothers and daughters being ordered to kill people. While McPeak doesn't much care for the rising trend in sexual harassment complaints indicated by the statistics, he said it proves the system works. And it proves that "Air Force members may be more comfortable reporting these offenses today than they have been in the past." Committee chairman Rep. Les Aspin, questioned the need for more than one method of 99 Gen. Merrill A. McPeak Air Force chief of staff D-Wi- s., reporting incidents. He does, however, believe the combat exclusion law discriminates against women and is not advantageous to their careers. "Of course, the mission of the armed forces is not to provide excellent career opportunities; our mission is national security." Career opportunities are a of supporting the mission, he said. Questioning whether the services were doing enough in the battle against sexual harassment, asked the service Rep. Patricia Schroeder, chiefs for the bottom line, "Do you think you could do without women?" The unanimous response was no. The Air Force currently has about 71,000 women in the ranks, and could not operate without them, "We have about 10 times as many complaints handled through EEO channels as we do through what I call standards of conduct channels," McPeak said. Other avenues for reporting complaints are the inspector general, security police, chaplains, commanders or first sergeants. In place for several years, the equal opportunity trained specialists at system is staffed by every Air Force installation. By and large the EEO channel works, McPeak' said, but he favors keeping a choice of systems because "we don't want to close down any avenue for dealing with crime." by-produ- ct full-tim- e, iiriaiiiin?w?rar JhMlliMMIMMrtKHiWI KEARSLEYS COOLER SPECIALS NEW SUMMER SERVICE WE WILL COME OUT AND CLEAN, OIL AND Mil ii I , TUNE-JJ- P S7C95 .MTiK mix: III a 7A r -i-MM i mm m SLrrts.f-rm rmr m 520 SO. STATE, CLEARFIELD VS. 111 636 2-1 UNLINED i JACKETS SELECTED SHIRTS $g95n$95 Sizes 4 to 4x $50 Li. 773-483629- z: SHORTS ; ALL SIZES All work guaranteed. Expert Installations Legs on all Jobs Financing Available , SALE w I SAVE ON FRIGIKINGooE-- s v rr INSTALLATIONS .2 From XS to XXX Sizes 8 to XL 1 I 1 UNADVERTISEP SPECIALS ON TODDLER SHORTS, JR. TOPS, ETC, WEEKDAYS AND SATURDAYS 10:00 A.M. TO 6:00 P.M. OREM 573 226-102- N. State 3 SANDY 9314 S. 700 E. 255-500- 6 W. JORDAN 1563 W. 8020 S. 566-164- 8 LAYTON 1720 W. 1000 N. 544-546- 0GDEN 4105 Riverdale Rd. 8 621-54- 8 ff 57 MURRAY 4661 S. 900 E. 266-123- 2 New Store! W. VALLEY 3392 S. 5600 W. 968-065- 4 ja |