ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 13, 1996 TAG: 9611130041
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
TAILHOOK '91, the Navy's debacle of debauchery and cover-up, was supposed to be the watershed ensuring cultural change in the U.S. military. But as the sex scandal now rocking the Army shows, change is still too slow in coming. A long tradition of sexual misconduct and degradation of women in the military apparently continues, notwithstanding official policies of ``zero tolerance.''
Unlike Tailhook, the scandal at the Aberdeen Proving Ground's Army Ordnance Center in Maryland is not the result of a drunken, abusive orgy. It appears to be much worse: a situation in which male trainers soberly and viciously took advantage of young female recruits, some still in their teens. The advantage was handed to the men by a system based on unquestioned obedience to rank and authority.
Many of these young women felt they could not walk away from a lecherous supervisor as they might in civilian life and file a complaint with the federal government. They had been indoctrinated to follow orders.
At least four drill sergeants and a captain face charges ranging from rape and forcible sodomy to sending improper love letters to trainees. One drill sergeant has been accused of threatening to kill or ``knock [the] teeth out'' of victims if they told on him. Several other instructors at the Aberdeen center have been suspended.
And now, after the Army logged nearly 2,000 calls on a hot line set up after the Aberdeen scandal was revealed, and more than 200 new complaints have been deemed serious enough for criminal investigation, the inquiry is expanding to other Army bases.
To their credit, the Army brass have moved aggressively to look into the allegations, and have vowed to expose and punish any guilty parties, however big a black eye the Army suffers in doing so. That's strikingly different from the Navy's early boys-will-be-boys and damage-control response to Tailhook. Still, based on the number of reports of sexual crimes and harassment now coming to light, it's not comforting to think how long this might have been going on without the top guns' noticing.
Many courts-martial may be necessary before the Army and the public know the extent of the problem that's surfaced. The Army, however, shouldn't wait to begin a major review of its procedures for selecting and monitoring trainers. Surely it can do a better job of seeing that those with tendencies to abusive behavior and sexual predation aren't put in positions where they can exploit the service's newest and most vulnerable members.
Nor should the brass wait before doing some serious soul-searching. If, as Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., suggests, officials ``talk zero tolerance, but they implement it with a wink-wink,'' the Pentagon has as much to answer for as any drill sergeant.
LENGTH: Medium: 53 linesby CNB