The Battalion
p t iv i n iv
i i ■■■
Page 7
Friday • February 21, 1 997
rmed farces or a few good men?
he image, mission of the armed forces continues to be hotly debated
t is ironic how Ameri
cans criticize and de
mean the United
ites military, the very
titution which pro-
ts the right to free
ech. Everyone has a
ted psychics on quest jm rsona l opinion of how
<t n 1650 $3 99 ™ military should be
8434. However, many of
individuals have
er actually served in
Columnist
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"Bit has become a com-
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s to pick at our military institu-
s. Scandals in several branches
academies have hit the papers
the national newscasts, giving
Bd to the judgmental general pub-
30MMATES ■ Everyone, from cadets to the en-
■ed ranks, to officers, has been
«rged with a myriad of offenses,
ed a sap. 2bdrm'2trBm the all-too-frequent sexual ha-
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) needed A.s.A.p. 2wi®These severe occurrences have
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Id" 2bdrm/ibath. oBtes Armed Forces are not typical
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d ' as A a P ' BlI'xtrenu'lv specialized task which
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ie often forget.
The basic duty of the military is to
[Over 100,000 Iraqis were killed
ing Desert Storm. Whether in de-
se of the nation or its interests, its
Ids simple.
However, its purpose is not to be
Mitically correct. To do the job the
■litary is required to do, a certain
;s can soon wend;: type of person is needed. One must
be patriotic, self-sacrificing and dis-
ilined. One must have the ability to
M instinctively under dire circum-
ces. It is not for everyone.
,rt h em New Mexico. 7|| Members of the U.S. military are
i River, Taos s AifAftquired to give up many of the
; 916, ask for John. ordinary citizens enjoy,
spring Break Partyphe right to privacy is sacrificed,
axes. From $33perpe®fpce men and women may have
ir quarters searched and their be-
gings confiscated at any time
[thout warning.
They are held to a higher standard
responsibility. Individuals are not
y responsible for their own ac-
ns, but for those of their families
well. An undisciplined child or
Sschievous spouse can impede or
'en end a healthy career.
The right to due process is also
t. In certain circumstances, one
Hay be held without trial.
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Individuality is sacri
ficed. To many civilians’
dismay, soldiers are told
what is appropriate and
what is not in regard to
professional and person
al attire.
In the Marine Corps,
the ability to wear civil
ian attire is a privilege,
not a right.
It is difficult to apply
what is deemed politi
cally correct to the mili
tary without degrading
its performance.
Open homosexuality in the mili
tary is not appropriate. It disrupts the
bond and trust soldiers must have
between one another. When one’s life
is on the line, one needs and expects
complete trust. Whether homopho
bia is deemed wrong by many Amer
icans, the fact remains it causes mis
trust and disrupts unit cohesion.
Members of the armed forces can
not be forced to trust someone
whose lifestyle they find repulsive.
A member of the Corps of the
Cadets, who declined to be iden
tified, voiced his opinion of gays
in the military.
“Gays do not belong in the mili
tary,” he said. “It’s not conducive to a
military lifestyle, especially in close
quarters.”
Women have become an even
more integral part of the U.S. mili
tary, however they should never ex
pect complete equality. When it
comes to infantry warfare (hand-to-
hand combat), the average woman
is not as capable as the average man.
It’s not chauvinism — it’s a fact of na
ture. In regard to arcade warfare,
such as air-to-air combat and other
forms of victimless combat, in which
weapons of war are used at dis
tances and are based on hand-eye
coordination and mental abilities,
women perform as well as men or
even better. One should not classify
the military as sexist due to the lack
of complete integration.
Rich Wright, a senior business
analysis major and a U.S. Marine
Corps veteran, said the military is a
different environment and needs to
be treated accordingly.
Regarding the recent rash of sex
ual harassment cases, he said, “The
Marine Corps doesn’t have a prob
lem like the Army and the Navy be
cause they realize men and women
are different.”
Wright has no problem with gays
in the military if their sexual prefer
ence is kept secret, but said it would
definitely undermine morale and
disrupt the chain of command if
made known.
“You learn from Day One that
there’s a hierarchy,” he said.
“You’re not dealing with everyday
situations. There has to be disci
pline and respect.”
As Wright alluded, discipline and
respect are the cornerstones of oper
ations in the military. Their absence
is a problem.
The military is not, nor has it ever
been, an institution comparable to
anything in the private sector. With
out firsthand experience, it is hard to
believe many critics of the military
can hold the opinions they do.
The United States military is a
watchdog. When it bites the hand of
a prowler and performs its duty, it is
praised. However, when it bites the
hand of a friend, it is scolded for do
ing what it is trained to do.
Do not attempt to judge what you
Hi
"uman nature al
ways manages to
.get in the way, and
it doesn’t seem to be help
ing the U.S. Army’s image
these days.
With sexual harass
ment accusations flood
ing the Army since No
vember and female cadets
in the Citadel accusing
males of attempting to set
their clothes on fire, it is
impressive Texas A&M’s
Corps of Cadets hasn’t
faced similar problems.
Although soldiers who commit
acts of sexual harassment should be
harshly punished, they should not be
singled out for what occurs in every
walk of life. However, the Army could
take a few lessons from the Corps on
creating an environment in which
mutual respect can grow, decreasing
Columnist
Heather Pace
sophomore
English major
UoOUV UKC
v\ L *
%AToNte
LOOKING FOR
jOTfcitr
A FEW* GOOD ME NT
likelihood of harassment.
At the beginning of
February the Army’s
image took another
shot when retired
Sergeant Major Brenda
Hoster accused the
Army’s highest ranked
enlisted man, Sergeant
Major Gene McKinney,
of sexual harassment.
The same week, al
most 500,000 soldiers
began watching one of
the Army’s response to
the flood of complaints a video in
which the same McKinney de
clared that sexual harassment
must come to an end.
Before publicly charging McKin
ney with sexual harassment, Hoster
called the Army’s sexual harassment
hotline. In Time magazine, she said
her call was nothing more than a
frustrating experience with an un
trained staff.
Although similar calls
since last fall have resulted
in more than 1,100 crimi-
Jl nal probes, the Army
could have dealt more ef
fectively with charges of
sexual harassment.
However, the private sec
tor probably needs as much
help with the problem of
sexual harassment as the
Armed Services — it just seems
to get the most publicity.
What has come the way of the
Armed Services in the way of scandal
has been dealt with effectively,
though not always promptly.
In 1991, the Navy received the
first major charges of sexual ha
rassment when naval aviators be
longing to the Tailhook Associa
tion, made drunken fools of
themselves by harassing females.
After initially failing to identify
the responsible officers, the Navy
reacted by booting admirals and
even the secretary of the navy.
The Air Force has taken
steps to prevent sexual harass
ment by implementing sexual
harassment training in 1982
and initiating a task force on
discrimination and sexual
harassment in 1994.
Although such measures
are a step in the right direction,
there is only so much that can
be accomplished with policy.
Sexual harassment is diffi-
cult to prevent, but the
most effective way to deal
with it is to create an environ
ment in which it cannot thrive.
One guide to discrimination and
sexual harassment, written by Lt.
General Billy J. Boles, USAF, says:
“Despite commanders’ involvement
and education programs, people will
occasionally behave inappropriately.
It takes a strong continuing commit
ment by everyone to minimize these
behaviors and their effects.”
Sexual harassment occurs most
often because of a desire for power.
Incidents of sexual harassment
should decrease as some males dis
cover, whether they like it or not, fe
males are here to stay in the military.
Although the situation at A&M is
still touchy, as indicated by several fe
male cadets unwilling to be quoted,
the situation is nowhere near as bad
as it is at other places.
One former cadet said there were
few incidents of harassment, but
those she did see were dealt with
quickly. She said the key for her was to
gain the respect other peers.
Another cadet said the problem is
not so much sexual harassment as it is
males not knowing how to deal with
females. Although she said she hears
comments that make some females
uncomfortable, she just doesn’t take
her buddies seriously.
Tara Tripp, a junior English major
and a member of the Corps, said her
buddies spend more time defending
her than offending her.
“My three other female buddies
and I have been the first women to
make it through our outfit since
1993,1 believe, and we have never
had any problems with sexual ha
rassment,” Tripp said. “If anything,
our male buddies have been pro
tective — like big brothers to us.”
This continuing commitment has
been developed naturally in the
Corps in the form of relationships
based on mutual trust and respect,
not gender.
Matt Reynolds, a sophomore gen
eral studies major and a member of
the Corps, said he has complete re
spect for the only female sophomore
remaining in his outfit.
“I think she proves herself to be a
worthy cadet because she does every
thing we do,” Reynolds said. “She does
even more than some people and she
stays involved. I think she gains a lot of
respect because of that. What people
need to do is open their minds to new
views and simply accept the fact that
females can excel as much as males.”
Give the Army a handful of soldiers
and there are sure to be charges for
sexual harassment—give the Armed
Forces a handful of A&M cadets, and
hopefully, it can win the war against
sexual harassment.
JON
ums Harsh adult punishments fail to rehabilitate juvenile criminals
Effective
ill
out on th
rtunity to
» A&M's
_ earbook.
sss pictures
sn 9 a.m.'
_1 Friday,
‘uvenile crime is on every
|| politician’s hit list,
p Tougher policies are tout-
p by legislators of all parties,
and some are talking about
lepealing the federal man-
dates which keep juveniles
i^jfrom being incarcerated in
he same facilities as adults,
personal responsibility and
he realization of crime’s con
sequences are essential to to-
Jay’s youth, but the useful
ness of rehabilitation must
jot be overlooked.
In an age when criminals rarely serve
1 sentences, society must decide
whether to allow these young criminals
ip be released after extensive rehabili-
ition or to expose them to the self-rule
hd mayhem of the Texas Department
Corrections. Plato said when hu-
Columnist
Courtney Phillips
Junior
Psychology major
mans err, it is the result of
poor teachings or bad genes.
Today, most people would
rightfully balk, saying individ
uals are always in charge of
their actions — no one con
trols them. While no one can
deny that environment has
an impact on children, the
common belief that they start
out pure, but become cor
rupted by their environment,
is not on target either.
Still, some people say the
opposite — children start out
as criminals and learn how to live ac
cording to society’s rules. In William
Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Golding
toyed with a society’s restrictions and
showed how, if inter dependencies
were removed, humans would return to
a basic criminal nature. In light of this
thinking, all students of Texas A&M are
potential robbers, rapists and murder
ers. Furthermore, a belief in this basic
nature is really much more democrat
ic. People are much more likely to
have compassion on a person if they
recognize that deep down people are
all the same. Of course, most Ameri
cans suffer from the prideful “I’m spe
cial and I’m different” mentality, and
they cannot handle the thought of
their own potential criminality.
Chip Harrison, commandant of a
Texas Youth Commission boot camp,
said disciplining kids and restructuring
the way they think is more beneficial
than yelling and abusing them.
“What good would that do?” he said,
“These kids have been hollered at all
their lives, they've had semiautomatics
shoved in their faces. They’ve been
stabbed. You think a little yelling is go
ing to change them?”
This is clearly not the typical A&M
student’s upbringing.
Over the past few years, the TYC has
been overhauling its programs in an
effort to become more strict and tai
lored to individual situations. Its four
fold mission is to protect society from
juvenile offenders, make the offenders
productive while incarcerated, reha
bilitate criminals and prevent future
juvenile crime.
Staff workers are forming under
standing relationships with the youths,
but every waking second of the youths’
lives is structured and demands the re
spect of their overseers. Uniforms are
worn and for the first time in these kids’
lives, someone expects productivity
and humanity from them.
One can never know for sure how
authentic the rehabilitation is. Howev
er, the new direction TYC has taken in
dealing with juvenile offenders seems
to beat the lack of control and efficien
cy in the adult-justice system.
Juveniles stand a chance of being more
productive members of society if given a
chance to undergo rehabilitation. More
over, communities would be a lot safer
having tried to rehabilitate these juveniles
than sealing their fate by categorizing
them as hardened criminals through in
carceration without rehabilitation.
Top-notch chemical dependency
treatments, sexual offender programs
and a stellar capital offender program
help juveniles identify their bad choices
and develop empathy for their victims.
Meanwhile, Texas legislation should con
centrate on encouraging higher stan
dards for families and communities, two
support systems lacking in the lives of
most juvenile criminals.
Mail
Jniv.
1.US
^erajBarbef
2th man absent
n G. Rollie White
regards to Jamie Burch’s .. let’s
ve hoops a horse laugh."
Aggie basketball is plagued by low
(tendance and little fan support. Bas-
etball is a fast-paced sport that’s both
:ography ■(citing and fun to watch, but as Ag
es, some of us don’t know how to be
asketball fans. Basketball games
should be characterized by its high-
energy both on the court and in the
stands. One problem is most A&M tra
ditions were built around football, not
basketball. Therefore, the role of the
band and yell leaders should be differ
ent in conjunction with the different
sports. The slow pace of band works
well for football, but the music for bas
ketball needs to build and maintain
the momentum. There are times dur
ing the game when the coach calls a a
20-second time-out to calm down
his team—not the crowd. Often, the
yell leaders take this time to quiet
the crowd to do a yell. Unfortunate
ly, that’s just what the opponent
needs. If a coach scouts our team in
an earlier game, they know what an
opportunity a 20-second time-out
presents for them.
Fan support is the key and we need
to create that high energy for the team.
Anyone who has ever competed in
sports knows that it’s always easier
when you have fans behind you. It is
disheartening to our teams when they
go to out of town games and see the
support their opponents have and
then come back to G. Rollie and have
none. We need to learn to be basket
ball fans and that starts when we show
up to the games. We have the opportu
nity to see great teams play in the new
Big 12 Conference and we should take
advantage of the chance. I encourage
everyone to attend the games and
support our team.
Kimberly Crawford
Class of’97
Accompanied by 14 signatures
I have never enjoyed an article so
much as the one Jamie Burch wrote for
today’s Battalion. The truth can be very
refreshing! Although it is true that Texas
A&M University is not just about
sports...neither is it just about educa
tion.
My husband and I attend a majori
ty of the Aggie sporting events—which
are always a lot of fun and great family
entertainment—and cannot under
stand why there aren’t more people in
attendance in a town of more than
100,000 residents plus 40,000 students.
Although I am an adopted Aggie
(graduate of UTA), my husband is
Class of 75 and I have heard for may
years how G. Rollie White had standing
room only for every game when he
was in school—and A&M was not even
half the size it is today. What has hap
pened? I would also like to know where
the Corps of Cadets’ support is, as well
as the fraternities, the sororities, those
that support the football team, etc.
Regarding the yell leaders, I
think that if one or two of them
would be on the other side of the
basketball court with the former
students and older fans, they could
get them to be more excited and to
make a lot more noise. As for the
band...why would they have to play
just one kind of music...why not
play some jazzy tunes and some
traditional marches?
There is one thing I would like to
add to the article, however, and that
is the unfortunate fact that the lack
of support is not only seen at the
men’s basketball games, but at all
Aggie sports—men and ladies! The
football team and coaches are always
talking about how important support
is and yet I see very few players (or
coaches!) at any other sporting events.
Sharon Lee
College Station
The Battalion encourages letters to the editor.
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ters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be
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