
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 1, 1991                   TAG: 9102010712
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

FIRST WOMAN MIA PROMPTS DEBATE/ FEMALE MILITARY, COMBAT ROLES ARGUED

The first loss of an American service woman in the Persian Gulf war - as a prisoner or as a casualty - is not an event of "war-stopping" dimensions, a number of observers said Thursday, but it is stirring up a sharp new debate over women's role in the military.

The divided reaction to the official report listing a service woman as missing in action ranged from demands for new restrictions on putting women at risk in the war to equally firm calls for fully equal roles in combat for women.

Former President Gerald Ford said the report "saddens me," but adding that "this is a voluntary military organization, and when you become a part of it, you assume certain risks. You have to understand that that's part of the probability."

In an interview from his office in Rancho Mirage, Calif., the former commander-in-chief said women accept that risk "under the rules they understood" would apply to them when they joined up.

Wilma Vaught, a retired Air Force general, said she hoped the incident would have the effect of building greater support for "the strong feelings [of service women] to be free to do their jobs," even when they are aware they face risks.

"That young lady [now missing] was assigned to do a job, and she was doing it when that happened," said Vaught, now head of a women veterans' memorial group. If it causes widespread pleas to "bring the women home," Vaught added, "women [in the service] would be furious, and rightly so."

Beverly LaHaye, president of Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, said: "I think this could really cause quite an uprising. The traditional women in America, I believe, are going to rise up because of this."

Because of the negative reaction she foresaw, LaHaye said she thought the Pentagon might be led "to take a new look at where they've got women positioned" in the war zone. Iraq had already demonstrated that "they do not know how to treat POWs," she said. "What will they do with a woman?"

by CNB