Military Women: 200,000 and Counting.

• Author: Book, Elizabeth G.
• Position: Defense policy, United States

Controversies linger on issues such as gender-integrated training and sea-duty

Females now comprise 14.7 percent of the armed forces, compared to 14.1 percent in 1998. That translates into approximately 200,000 women who serve today as part of a 1.4-million active-duty force.

But despite the growing presence of women in the military services, controversies linger in some areas, particularly on the subjects of co-ed basic training and the suitability of female sailors to serve onboard ships.

A Pentagon advisory group known as DACOWITS (Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services) in recent years has advised the Defense Department on these issues.

Established in 1951, the DACOWITS has 30 to 40 members who counsel the secretary of defense on issues relating to women in the services. A Pentagon spokesman told National Defense that members of DACOWITS devote personal time and resources to meet with service men and women around the world and "hear their concerns about matters related to their work, their living environment, their opportunities for advancement and their quality of life."

Female officers and officer candidates interviewed for this story generally agreed that, while controversial, gender-integrated training can help build camaraderie among recruits.

U.S. Naval Academy senior and midshipman first-class NaTasha McEachin said co-ed training should continue, because men and women are generally tasked with the same jobs and must work together. Ninety percent of jobs in the Navy are open to women, she noted. "It's a fact that men are more capable physically, but that does not mean that women can't do the job. If you're going to be working with people of the opposite sex, you're going to need to train with them."

"I don't have a problem with male-female training," said Cadet First Class Bethany Stott, a senior at the Air Force Academy. "You're going to have to work with them, so you should be trained together," she said. Stott said she believes that the mostly co-ed training that female Air Force Academy cadets go through make them more valuable to the military. "Women at the Air Force Academy are just as eager as men to serve and die for their country, if need be. There are certain career fields where you might not want someone who couldn't meet a certain physical standard, but if they can pass the physical test, that's cool."

Female Air Force cadets, said Stott, have gone through extensive training just to get where they are...