The endless saga

     This fall, the Virginia Military Institute will, as ordered by the courts, admit its first female cadets. Question: When will the first sexual harassment lawsuit be filed? Late fall or early spring?
      Seem pessimistic? If only it were. The fact is that the phenomenon of sexual harassment, its politics and attendant legal entanglements permeate every segment of the American military -- from its undergraduate academies to the Navy fighter squadrons.
      The story of the U.S. military today is the story of sexual harassment: Tailhook. Aberdeen. The Citadel.
      The latest wrinkle involves five female recruits at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland who now say Army investigators pressured them to lodge false charges of rape against male superiors. It now appears investigators, in their zeal to root out any and all behavior between male and females service members that could be construed as sexual, goaded the Aberdeen women into making charges more serious than warranted.
      An interesting case study in the sexual politics of the integrated military involves former Navy fighter pilot Lt. Carey Lohrenz, profiled in this week's Newsweek magazine. Lt. Lohrenz washed out of the naval aviator program after her commanding officer rated her poor flight performance as a "disaster" in the making. But she blames her failure on being "frozen out" by the male fighter jocks. The men -- wary of doing anything that might be construed as sexual harassment -- treated Lt. Lohrenz with cold formality, excluding her from the camaraderie the men enjoyed. In essence, Lt. Lohrenz charges the military with the failure to nurture.
      What choice did the male pilots have? Had they treated Lt. Lohrenz with familiarity, they would have risked career-ending sexual harassment charges.
      Women will continue to serve in the military. That Rubicon is already crossed. Once in the military, women would face career-crippling restrictions if not allowed to apply for any type of duty ... providing they can meet the same performance standards as their male cohorts.
      But there's the rub. Those advancing political agendas and legal careers tend to promote unofficial quotas that can only result in dual standards, with all the suspicion and hostility that breeds.
      With fewer lawyers, perhaps the military could get back to training better warriors ... regardless of their sex.