Military women undeterred by Navy tragedy

Friday, Oct. 20, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

The deaths of two women sailors aboard the USS Cole that was bombed last week in a Yemen harbor should not deter efforts to recruit or retain women in the military, say members of a national women's services committee.

Vickie McCall, chairwoman of the 34-member Defense Advisory Committee on Women in The Services, and Candace Young-Richey, the organization's installation visit coordinator and a Las Vegas resident, made their comments Thursday during an interview at the DACOWITS conference at the Luxor hotel-casino.

"It was a terrible loss for all Americans, but it drives home the fact that women, who comprise 15 percent of our armed forces, are involved in nontraditional roles," McCall, a real estate developer from Utah, said of the Cole incident that killed 17. "We are united armed forces -- women working together with men."

Young-Richey, owner of CYR & Associates, a consulting firm that works primarily with nonprofit organizations, echoes McCall's feelings: "It punctuates the contributions women are making to our country. The Cole bombing will not deter women from pursuing the opportunities they now have in the military. Women also are patriots."

The DACOWITS meeting in Las Vegas runs through Sunday, with topics such as pregnancy benefits, child care improvements and promotion equity to be discussed at forums that are open to the public.

Among the 300 people expected to attend the event is Princess Aisha Bint Al Hussein, a colonel in the Jordanian military who is the daughter of the late King Hussein and the sister of present King Abdullah II. She attended Thursday's meeting.

Despite the Cole tragedy, DACOWITS is going full-speed ahead with efforts to get women sailors in other challenging roles, like serving on submarines.

"Women are graduating at the top of the academies and have told us they want to serve on subs," said Young-Richey, whose job it is to read all of the reports from military installation visits by the 34-member civilian committee that includes five men.

"Giving women the opportunity to serve on subs promotes equitability and career progression."

McCall said the one main drawback now to women serving on subs is that there is only room for one set of sleeping quarters -- men's. She said designs are on the table for subs that will be built in 20 to 40 years that would be able to accommodate separate men's and women's sleeping areas.

The 49-year-old DACOWITS organization was the driving force behind women being allowed into the military academies. Their recommendations over the years have carried a lot of weight in decisions to change how the military utilizes women.

But while the group is progressive in its thinking, it does not go so far as to say laws should be changed to allow women in ground combat.

"We examine where women can be best used and ask if our culture is ready to accept such roles," McCall said. "But do we support women in every career position in the military? No. We look at whether it (a career opportunity) passes logic."

One of those areas is accommodating pregnant military personnel.

"We want to see a clarification of policies from the five services -- issues dealing with leave, physical training after a birth and (larger) housing as it becomes available," Young-Richey said. "As it stands now, there is an uneven application of policy."

Army Lt. Col. Susan Kolb, a military spokeswoman for the Las Vegas gathering, said some of the application questions get as technical as, "when a woman can begin wearing her maternity uniform and how long after she has the baby can she continue to wear a maternity uniform if she has put on additional weight."

And while the military has excellent child care facilities, there are problems with staffing and operational hours, Young-Richey said.

"There just are not enough slots -- the waiting lists are 100 deep and there's more than a year's wait to get in," she said. "Also there is a problem with flexibility of hours. The Air Force has a rule that it is open (for child care) only 11 hours while some exercises take up to 15 hours. There is a need for more licensed child care staff."

As for promotions, DACOWITS says data indicates that women officers are not getting promoted as equitably as their male counterparts.

"In the Navy, men are promoted at a higher and faster rate because they get commands at sea," McCall said. "We want to ensure parity to make sure the opportunities are there for women in what have been male dominated fields.

"These are all contributing factors to the retention rate of women in the military."