c. 1997 Religion News Service

(Andrew M. Greeley is a Roman Catholic priest, best-selling novelist and a sociologist at the University of Chicago National Opinion Research Center. Check out his home page at http://www.agreeley.com or contact him via e-mail at 76710.3306(AT)compuserve.com.)

UNDATED _ If the U.S. military fails to keep its warrior culture alive, will it be faltering in its responsibility? Has the military been”feminized”to such an extent that its warrior culture is threatened? Are women capable of being warriors and can they be counted on to defend a nation under siege?

These questions are emerging again as journalists, academics and congressional investigators take a hard look at the resistance to women in the military, a resistance that continues despite the fact that the military must include women if it is to find the trained personnel it needs.

One hot-shot officer told a New York Times reporter that those who serve in the military must be tough warriors; aggressive men who despise weakness and are willing to engage in the brutality of man-to-man combat. Real warriors, the officer suggested, are like rapists.

It is precisely this belief that shapes the military’s culture, which does not tolerate the presence of women and will do all it can to punish them and get rid of them.

Two questions remain:

First, is it fair to describe all the soldiers who have fought for this country in terms of the military’s macho-rapist culture?

Were the men who fought in the Civil War, the world wars, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf all would-be rapists? Our great grandfathers, our grandfathers, our fathers, our husbands, our sons?

Were they really macho warriors who killed easily and raped brutally? One very much doubts it. Some, undoubtedly, were”war lovers”but most were not.

Second, is the macho-warrior mentality necessary in the military today? Must we still use the strategy and tactics of Genghis Khan? Must we be blood-thirsty killers in order to defeat our enemies?

It seems to me that, with some notable exceptions, the U.S. military is grimly determined to keep women on the fringes, if not forced out entirely.

But that determination should surprise no one, considering how deeply entrenched the warrior mentality is at our military academies.

In her chilling book,”Ground Zero,”Linda Bird Francke details the conflict between the warrior culture and women in the military. Her pessimistic conclusion: Women will not give up the fight for equality in the military and officers will never abandon their near-rapist code.

The stories in Francke’s book about the treatment of women who served in Panama and the Gulf will turn your stomach. Some women were denied medals to which they were entitled, they were forced out of the service if they gained public attention, and they were denied prisoner-of-war status when they were clearly prisoners of war.

Some had their reputations savaged by lies, and the top brass did nothing to stop the abuse.

The routine, day-to-day abuse of women in the military _ perhaps with the exception of the Coast Guard _ is a disgrace that cries to heaven for vengeance. I have closely followed the problems women face in the military, but had no idea just how bad things are until I read”Ground Zero.” As women fight for equality, they encounter this phony macho culture wherever they turn. Rarely, however, must they contend with the physical and verbal violence that permeates the military.

MJP END GREELEY