Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993                   TAG: 9303290418
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DON'T `CIVILIANIZE' THE MILITARY

One need only recall the recent initiative by President Clinton to lift the ban prohibiting service by homosexuals in the armed forces. Come mid-July, the ban will go unless cooler heads prevail. Then recall the presidential commission on the assignment of women in the armed forces that recommended, among other things, the assignment of women to combat ships, including carriers, cruisers and destroyers. If either one or both of these actions become the law of the land, they will devastate the fighting forces.

I have heard senior officials say that our military forces are a microcosm of society. I certainly hope not. At this point they are better than that, but the future is in doubt. Society may turn a blind eye to promiscuity - heterosexual or homosexual - but in the close confines of daily contact, especially aboard ship, such behavior can destory morale and severely hamper readiness. Accepted standards of decency and modesty under such conditions will cease to exist. I hope that as a nation we will not be indifferent to the lowering of these standards.

Service in the military forces cannot be properly classified as a job. To properly carry out duties assigned, it has to be a way of life. John Paul Jones, the father of the American Navy, had it right when he said: "In order to preserve the greatest democracy in the world, we must maintain the most autocratic Navy." But it would appear his words have been lost on a society that seems bent on accepting "civilianization" of the fighting forces. This is an an indication we do not take our military seriously. ROBERT C. PENISTON Captain, U.S. Navy (Retired) LEXINGTON