A trip in the wayback machine:
Despite military scandals, women enlist
Female recruits unfazed
By Cynthia F. Young
WASHINGTON (ARNEWS, June 2, 1997) -- Even through she grew up an Army brat, a quiet, confident Shalamar Carruthers, 19, sat in the U.S. Army recruiting office on Lee Highway in Fairfax, Va. and wondered one last time if she was doing the right thing.
The four-year enlistment was a big step forward in her life.
"It's kind of exciting and nervous at the same time," Carruthers said. She took the oath in March and ships out for basic training in September. "I'm thinking about Day One, from the day I start to the day I finish."
"I know what I want to do," said the varsity track and field athlete who just finished her sophomore year at George Mason University. "It's making the transition from civilian life to Army life -- the uniforms, basic training, saluting. As a child of a military family it's easy, but I'm a little nervous about that."
One thing she said she isn't worried about as a new Army recruit is being sexually harassed.
Despite the charges of sex crimes against 12 staff members that rocked the Army Ordnance Center and School at Aberdeen, Md. -- including five drill sergeants, an instructor and a company commander -- the possibility of sexual harassment by their superiors hasn't fazed a number of area young women considering being all they can be.
To these young women, the benefits - meaning funds for education, skills training, travel and career direction - outweigh what they consider to be a slim risk.
"I don't think things like that happen. It is everywhere in life and it is sad, but it doesn't concern me," said Carruthers, who enlisted as a medical specialist because she liked the Army's medical program.
The focused 19-year-old qualified for the G.I. Bill to help pay for her education and plans to become a physician's assistant.
'Such a big family'
Tracie James, 27, of Fairfax, who was filling out paperwork at the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion's Fairfax office last week, said the Aberdeen scandal did not affect her decision to enlist.
"I'm the kind of person, if someone were to approach me with something like that, I'm telling," said James, who is divorced with two children and hopes to make the Army a career. "I'm telling. If I get in trouble, then I get in trouble, but it'll save the next person. Actually I've thought about it, and I'm like, 'Wow, what would I do?' But you never know what you would do until something like that arises."
Her experiences with her ex-husband's commanders and companies as a civilian "Army wife" were good ones. "They were run pretty well. It was such a big family," James said.
For James, the benefits outweighed the negatives.
"It's just a rare occurrence. It doesn't happen every day. It doesn't happen every month. It is just something that happened and it was a mistake and they should have known better. People were hurt, people's lives were messed up. I think [the sexual harassment] was very rare."
The U.S. Army's goal this year is to recruit 90,000 soldiers for a total of 495,000 on active duty by Sept. 30. One in five recruits is female.
Sign here ...
In the first quarter of the 1997 fiscal year the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion, which covers Fairfax and 26,000 square miles in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, signed 819 soldiers into the regular Army and 383 into the Army Reserves. In the second quarter, 1,104 joined the Army and 453 joined the Reserves.
The Fairfax office recruits about three new soldiers a week and 10 to 12 recruits a month, said Sgt. Larry D. Warters, who runs the office of 10 recruiters.
A December 1996 memo from U.S. Army Recruiting Command headquarters by Maj. Gen. Alfonso E. Lenhardt reminded recruiters "that sexual harassment is explicitly forbidden." Recruiters show this memo to potential recruits and their parents, said Capt. Peter With, company commander of eight recruiting stations in the battalion that includes Fairfax. Army rules forbid personal relationships between subordinates and supervisors.
An Army senior review panel has been studying sexual harassment in the Army since the fall of 1996 and is due to report to Army Secretary Togo West Jr. in mid-June.
"It is foolish to assume that young ladies would not be affected by such stories," With said. "Most recruits realize these are isolated incidents."
Female soldiers can voice their concerns up the chain of command, from their noncommissioned officer to commanding officer and then battalion commander, he said. And all centers have an equal opportunity adviser, With said.
"Before a new soldier leaves for basic training they know" whom to complain to, With said. "Normally," With said, "there are women at all levels."
Sgt. Rhonda W. Thompson, a Fairfax recruiter, said most concerns are voiced by parents.
"Every time I go out to a young lady's house you have to address [the issue of sexual harassment]," Thompson said. "I just basically tell them it's everywhere. It's in the civilian sector as well. And if you open up a newspaper you are going to see that. I don't think anyone should change their mind due to anybody's wrongdoing."
`To better their career'
One concerned father asked Thompson, "Why would any young lady want to go into the Army right now?" Thompson replied, "'To better their career.' He was relating to the incident with Sgt. Simpson [the Aberdeen drill sergeant convicted on 18 counts of rape last month]. What you have to realize is that that was Sgt. Simpson. Every drill sergeant is not like that. Every young lady is not like that."
"The individual has to go in there focused," added Thompson, who said she has not been harassed in her eight years in the Army. "You have got to have goals, and once you set that goal you have to work toward that. You just can't let something that you heard or said change your mind on that."
"We speak to young ladies all the time," Thompson added. "It is one of their questions. It doesn't faze them. I don't think the kids actually have a lot of things like that in their mind. It's more or less their parents."
Not worried
Brianne Lopez, 18, of Centreville, who was visiting the Fairfax recruiting station the day before her senior prom, wasn't worried.
"I've thought it, but I'm not really [concerned]," Lopez said of the Aberdeen scandal. "I'm hoping with their authority they wouldn't continue that."
Her mother, Barbara Lopez, was more wary. "I would definitely have concerns, I'm a mother," she said.
Another parent, however, said she believes that because of the publicity and the Aberdeen trials, now is the best time to join the military. Schon Gross's daughter Christine Carlisle, a South Lakes High School senior, is joining the Marines this fall.
"Because it has all come to light it is no longer silent," Gross said. "It has made a significant difference for females."
"You've noticed there is nothing in the press about the Marines," said Gross, who lives in Reston. "The boot camps are completely separate. That was something, since we knew that, that was a non-issue. Now is the best time for a female to go into the service. It's zero tolerance. I think it is a great time for a female to go in."
Despite military scandals, women enlist
Female recruits unfazed
By Cynthia F. Young
WASHINGTON (ARNEWS, June 2, 1997) -- Even through she grew up an Army brat, a quiet, confident Shalamar Carruthers, 19, sat in the U.S. Army recruiting office on Lee Highway in Fairfax, Va. and wondered one last time if she was doing the right thing.
The four-year enlistment was a big step forward in her life.
"It's kind of exciting and nervous at the same time," Carruthers said. She took the oath in March and ships out for basic training in September. "I'm thinking about Day One, from the day I start to the day I finish."
"I know what I want to do," said the varsity track and field athlete who just finished her sophomore year at George Mason University. "It's making the transition from civilian life to Army life -- the uniforms, basic training, saluting. As a child of a military family it's easy, but I'm a little nervous about that."
One thing she said she isn't worried about as a new Army recruit is being sexually harassed.
Despite the charges of sex crimes against 12 staff members that rocked the Army Ordnance Center and School at Aberdeen, Md. -- including five drill sergeants, an instructor and a company commander -- the possibility of sexual harassment by their superiors hasn't fazed a number of area young women considering being all they can be.
To these young women, the benefits - meaning funds for education, skills training, travel and career direction - outweigh what they consider to be a slim risk.
"I don't think things like that happen. It is everywhere in life and it is sad, but it doesn't concern me," said Carruthers, who enlisted as a medical specialist because she liked the Army's medical program.
The focused 19-year-old qualified for the G.I. Bill to help pay for her education and plans to become a physician's assistant.
'Such a big family'
Tracie James, 27, of Fairfax, who was filling out paperwork at the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion's Fairfax office last week, said the Aberdeen scandal did not affect her decision to enlist.
"I'm the kind of person, if someone were to approach me with something like that, I'm telling," said James, who is divorced with two children and hopes to make the Army a career. "I'm telling. If I get in trouble, then I get in trouble, but it'll save the next person. Actually I've thought about it, and I'm like, 'Wow, what would I do?' But you never know what you would do until something like that arises."
Her experiences with her ex-husband's commanders and companies as a civilian "Army wife" were good ones. "They were run pretty well. It was such a big family," James said.
For James, the benefits outweighed the negatives.
"It's just a rare occurrence. It doesn't happen every day. It doesn't happen every month. It is just something that happened and it was a mistake and they should have known better. People were hurt, people's lives were messed up. I think [the sexual harassment] was very rare."
The U.S. Army's goal this year is to recruit 90,000 soldiers for a total of 495,000 on active duty by Sept. 30. One in five recruits is female.
Sign here ...
In the first quarter of the 1997 fiscal year the Baltimore Recruiting Battalion, which covers Fairfax and 26,000 square miles in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia, signed 819 soldiers into the regular Army and 383 into the Army Reserves. In the second quarter, 1,104 joined the Army and 453 joined the Reserves.
The Fairfax office recruits about three new soldiers a week and 10 to 12 recruits a month, said Sgt. Larry D. Warters, who runs the office of 10 recruiters.
A December 1996 memo from U.S. Army Recruiting Command headquarters by Maj. Gen. Alfonso E. Lenhardt reminded recruiters "that sexual harassment is explicitly forbidden." Recruiters show this memo to potential recruits and their parents, said Capt. Peter With, company commander of eight recruiting stations in the battalion that includes Fairfax. Army rules forbid personal relationships between subordinates and supervisors.
An Army senior review panel has been studying sexual harassment in the Army since the fall of 1996 and is due to report to Army Secretary Togo West Jr. in mid-June.
"It is foolish to assume that young ladies would not be affected by such stories," With said. "Most recruits realize these are isolated incidents."
Female soldiers can voice their concerns up the chain of command, from their noncommissioned officer to commanding officer and then battalion commander, he said. And all centers have an equal opportunity adviser, With said.
"Before a new soldier leaves for basic training they know" whom to complain to, With said. "Normally," With said, "there are women at all levels."
Sgt. Rhonda W. Thompson, a Fairfax recruiter, said most concerns are voiced by parents.
"Every time I go out to a young lady's house you have to address [the issue of sexual harassment]," Thompson said. "I just basically tell them it's everywhere. It's in the civilian sector as well. And if you open up a newspaper you are going to see that. I don't think anyone should change their mind due to anybody's wrongdoing."
`To better their career'
One concerned father asked Thompson, "Why would any young lady want to go into the Army right now?" Thompson replied, "'To better their career.' He was relating to the incident with Sgt. Simpson [the Aberdeen drill sergeant convicted on 18 counts of rape last month]. What you have to realize is that that was Sgt. Simpson. Every drill sergeant is not like that. Every young lady is not like that."
"The individual has to go in there focused," added Thompson, who said she has not been harassed in her eight years in the Army. "You have got to have goals, and once you set that goal you have to work toward that. You just can't let something that you heard or said change your mind on that."
"We speak to young ladies all the time," Thompson added. "It is one of their questions. It doesn't faze them. I don't think the kids actually have a lot of things like that in their mind. It's more or less their parents."
Not worried
Brianne Lopez, 18, of Centreville, who was visiting the Fairfax recruiting station the day before her senior prom, wasn't worried.
"I've thought it, but I'm not really [concerned]," Lopez said of the Aberdeen scandal. "I'm hoping with their authority they wouldn't continue that."
Her mother, Barbara Lopez, was more wary. "I would definitely have concerns, I'm a mother," she said.
Another parent, however, said she believes that because of the publicity and the Aberdeen trials, now is the best time to join the military. Schon Gross's daughter Christine Carlisle, a South Lakes High School senior, is joining the Marines this fall.
"Because it has all come to light it is no longer silent," Gross said. "It has made a significant difference for females."
"You've noticed there is nothing in the press about the Marines," said Gross, who lives in Reston. "The boot camps are completely separate. That was something, since we knew that, that was a non-issue. Now is the best time for a female to go into the service. It's zero tolerance. I think it is a great time for a female to go in."
posted by Roms at 19:02
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