THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 20, 1994 TAG: 9410200409
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The Pentagon's advisory panel on women, which 3 1/2 years ago sparked the repeal of laws keeping women out of combat roles, will see the payoff for its efforts at its fall meeting in Hampton Roads this week.
The Navy has invited the panel to visit the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first U.S. warship ever to go to sea with women as members of its permanent crew. The Eisenhower leaves Norfolk Naval Station at 10:30 this morning with 13 other ships on a six-month cruise that could take them to the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf.
Its 5,500-member crew and air wing include 385 women.
Members of the advisory panel are scheduled to ride by helicopter for a short field trip aboard the carrier as it leaves Hampton Roads this afternoon.
Formed in 1951 to help the Defense Department recruit and retain women in the military, the panel - called the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, or DACOWITS - has grown into a powerful voice for fostering women's military careers.
In April 1991, the committee recommended that the Pentagon lift laws banning women from combat. It cited the performance of the 35,000 female service members in the Persian Gulf war as proof that women can perform in a combat role.
Eleven service women died in the Persian Gulf, five of them from enemy fire. The women were not assigned to combat units but were caught up in the fighting. Twowomen - a medical officer and a truck driver - were taken prisoner.
The advisory panel's proposal marked a revival of its call in the early 1980s to repeal the 1948 laws, which exclude women from positions in which they could be exposed to combat.
Congress dropped part of the combat-exclusion law last April, lifting the ban on women serving aboard all ships except submarines and allowing them to serve in aircraft units. A ban remains on women serving in ground force units that are subject to combat.
The panel's efforts over the years also have included studies on various other women's issues, including sexual harassment and child care. It conducted a study that corrected myths that women service members miss more time on the job than do their male counterparts.
DACOWITS is composed of about 30 civilian women named by the Secretary of Defense to three-year advisory positions. Committee members are prominent civilians from throughout the United States who serve without compensation.
The military treats them as VIPs, affording them the courtesies extended to three-star generals or admirals while they meet. DACOWITS was founded 42 years ago by Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall during the Korean War.
The committee is meeting at the Cavalier Hotel Oceanfront through Sunday. The conference is open to the public.
It is being hosted this year by the Navy and will be presided over by Wilma Powell, the committee's chairwoman.
Undersecretary of the Navy R.J. Danzig will be the primary speaker in a keynote address at 9 a.m. today.
KEYWORDS: WOMEN IN THE MILITARY WOMEN IN COMBAT by CNB