| Show : Women in Combat: A Political Hot Potato Yet more on women in combat So much overheated mail arrives on the subject and the military implications are so great that I suppose we have to slog through the question at 441 length To understand what is going on you have to keep in mind that the subject is a political hot potato within the armed services In the military you don't question the prevailing party line if you expect to get promoted The party line is that you keep your mouth firmly shut on the subject except to say nice things You can be for you can't be against The result is that my signed mail from military folk — mostly from women soldiers — is overwhelmingly and sometimes savagely in favor of having women in combat In conversation with officers who have seen combat the comments are very different Typical examples: "In my aviation company they couldn't carry their toolboxes I had to get guys to stop what they were doing and help" "They couldn't lift litters" "They wanted portajohns when we went to the field This modesty stuff can drive you crazy" I could go on but the most telling remark came from a base commander who didn't know me well "If I Soldiering mands of ground combat "Years ago we tested women mostly high school athletes and ROTC around the country We found that the majority of them — the high 90 percent — could not do one pull-uThe average at West Point for males is in excess of 10" That's not a minor difference It's an enormous difference "When I was in Vietnam" continued Anderson "I tried to keep my men's loads to 65 pounds but when you add a claymore that brings it to 74 The overwhelming majority of women can't carry these loads and do what is needed in combat Most men can "Women come closer on tests of endurance than on tests of strength — running for example — but when you add weight they do much less well We have an indoor obstacle course modeled on combat experience from World War II It requires carrying weights climbing a rope vaulting There is virtually no overlap in the performance of the sexes A male needs to do it in two minutes and 18 seconds to pass A woman with that time gets an A" Merry Christmas Note incidentally that a 120- pound woman carrying 80 pounds is hauling 87 percent of her weight A man is carrying half To believe that women can carry the same weights you have to believe that they are substantially stronger for their size The foregoing objections involve jobs requiring physical strength The evidence in other forms of combat is not nearly so clear I recently received a letter from a woman who commands a radar outfit in Europe Why can't women do it she asked? No obvious reasons come to mind and I suspect that a careful examination of records from the Battle of Britain would show that women do fine in radar in rear areas (Army studies now in the mail to me show women having much higher collapse rates when wearing gas warfare gear) The problem is that the desire to put women in combat arises from political not military considerations Military women repeatedly say they want combat slots because that's where the promotions are Feminists favor the idea because they want to ram the notion down throats Liberals in their warm fuzzy way see a question of equity not effectiveness All of these assume for ideological reasons that the idea will work or else don't care Bucking this coalition isn't fun Characteristically we'll get the policy now and discover the price later p Fred Reed answer that my career comes to a dead stop" So that's the political situation If it sounds to the reader as if officers are more worried about their careers than about the effectiveness of the military well it seems that way to me too don't blame those who don't want to go on the record Their families have to eat Yet occasionally someone breaks rank Listen to Col Jim Anderson the PhD who runs the department of physical education at West Point I couldn't believe at first that he knew what he was saying and so I called him back and read him his transcript As it turned out he knew exactly what he was doing Anyway this is what he said: "I've been studying the physical capabilities of women since I came into this job in 1972 I have strong negative feelings about the capacity of women to handle the physical de I 160-poun- d The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday April 101 AZEle" S TAR G POLL- AN----- ARIES MAR 21 ion A1111 r) i I MAY Ce 1 2 3 4 5 20 GEMINI k 4- 21 20 10 Much 11 You 12 Puts 13 May 14 Have 15 For 16 Are 17 You 18 May 19 Is - CANCER JUNE 21 JUL'Y 22 kl LEO 'el4JULT 4)50- - 23 A 11?e14 SEPT Between 35 Week 36 37 38 39 40 III A Chat Stay To 41 You 20 Someone 21 Will 51 In 22 Love 23 Coming 24 Tension 25 Make 26 Quiet 27 Feel 28 III 29 Asked 30 Today 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 22 62-7- AUG V 23 2 : A 62 Minor 63 Small 64 Expressed 65 Token 66 Facts 67 Planning 68 Effort 69 Today 70 Member 71 Enjoy 7201 Will 42 Can 43 Gratitude 44 With 45 You 46 Great 47 Needs 48 Make 49 With 50 Make VIRG9 e Family 61 Show Mate 31 32 33 34 You Surprise Keep Schedule 6 Member 7 Quarrel 8 Opinion 9 To 9 ??MAY Your Daily Activity Guide According to th Stars To devel ip message for Sunday read words corresponding to numbers of your Zodiac birth sign TAUR4S APR 20 & CLAY R By )7 1 : go A19 1990 15 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 In Time By Changes Alone Friend Special 80 To 81 Your 82 The 83 With 84 Way 85 Family 86 Love 87 House 88 Members 89 Thoughts 90 Visit Be Yourself Gather More Careful And Friend Young 60 Family LIBRA 23 SEPT OCi 22 tt'ot‘e!' 232-44-6572-81-8- SCORPIO OCT 23 NOV 21 5 SAGITTARIUS NOY 22 DEd 21 51523-35756-6- CAPRICORN DEC 22 JAN 19 4 171 AQUARIUS JAN 20 1 FEB 3- - 11 8- - PISCES 111 MAR 20 ' 1590 4 i We are closed today Easter Sunday But join us tomorrow for terrific buys on fresh new styles for women and children Come in and discover fabulous savings on selected apparel footwear and accessories - 4" 'W ' ' 'I '''-''- ''04 e V-i1'1-7 - - ' b a- te 4e - 44 -- 0000r --- ' 0lio -- -- - 11 - - 1 a - 1:1 fit - — - "006004 4ak 77 ' '' 047gle"1- - ''' ' '' ' 0t-- - r!': ' ' l'' ''' ik A fir ' l' ' ' 4014:' r' i Atha - IL 'N ' 71 11111W ' ( 7 - l'' - i - mom Jr' ig 411 SP RI N 9 G - ' OUR OWN LEATHER NORDSTROM 'VENUS' 1990 HIP-PAC- Leather thong sandal in K 1990 a variety of colors Orig mr IP 114 Choose black grey brown or 495 royal Orig STARTS -- - 9 WEST 'GWEN' TOMORROW 2695 1 t- r Here just a sampling of the many values you'll find in Women's Shoes Not all styles may be available in all sizes or colors hurry in for best selection Crossroads Place Fashion Place and Ogden City Mall Shop tomorrow 10:00-9:- 00 1 ''''""7WArpb m ESPRIT 'BIKINI' 990 3690 Strappy sandal in white black red or aqua Orig 1695 Free sun visor with purchase black white navy red blue?? or rice Slip-o- n in Orig 4795 50 tomroi - - - ' - 11044'0' WHITE MOUNTAIN 'TUO' 2490 ROCKPORT 'SKIMMER' 4990 In white red Orig 3295 Canvas shoe in assorted colors Orig 2700 ESPRIT 'WETSUIT' 990 sandal with elastic band in magenta white black or blue Orig 1695 Choose black navy or taupe Orig '40"''' 4 CALVIN KLEIN 'NORTON' 1990 taupe black navy or Sling-bac- k 6095 nordstrom MEMMEMMIMINIUk t I NSEMEiEMMI i i 12"lb°'' l pipdsteaAtinoltleftellOtAM4PIP 4PMIORPoldettrolf411AA4 ALP41 tabP-41r- Aig ONA9Z40- rognAlbiadleV71001011MW490k00APOWIA z erPiN4Wd741PV-1- 1 |
