DATE: Saturday, May 10, 1997                TAG: 9705100282

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DANA PRIEST, THE WASHINGTON POST 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   76 lines

MILITARY WEIGHS EASING FRATERNIZATION RULES CHANGING ROLE OF TROOPS PROMPTS REVIEW

The Defense Department is considering loosening age-old rules restricting dating and close friendships between service members, in part because the daily mission of troops has substantially changed with the end of the Cold War.

The ``fraternization'' regulations, which vary from service to service, were written when most service members expected to find themselves in combat situations. Overly friendly relationships with anyone of a different rank - be it a buddy or a lover - could complicate a superior's tough decisions about sending people into harm's way.

Now, with a slackening of global tensions, it is more likely that most troops will never see combat and will spend most of their career in a setting more akin to the civilian world, defense officials said. Partly as a result, the Pentagon has launched a major review of the fraternization rules.

``The post-Cold War is an environment that is substantially different. . . secretary of defense for force management policy. He said the review is part of the overall reassessment of sexual harassment policy and gender issues prompted by the Army sex scandal at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

The re-examination also comes at a time when more women are joining the services, and a greater emphasis is being placed on joint operations and joint training involving soldiers, sailors and Marines. | Because each service has its own fraternization rules, what is prohibited in the Navy might not be prohibited in the Army, making for some awkward situations. For instance, if an Army officer and an enlisted Marine not in the same chain of command started dating, the Marine would be in violation of Marine regulations but the Army officer would be safe.

All services prohibit relationships between officers and enlisted personnel in the same chain of command. In general, the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force - but not the Army - also prohibit relationships between officers and enlisted personnel even when the two are not in the same chain of command.

Fraternization infractions can involve same-sex platonic relationships, too, if they involve people in the same chain of command. For that reason, officers and enlisted personnel are not allowed to become good friends and socialize to the exclusion of others in a unit because of the possibility or perception of preferential treatment by the superior officer.

All services base their policies on whether a given relationship would negatively affect discipline and order, and on the kind of environment where people serve.

Army and Navy policies differ, for example, partly because Navy sailors and officers usually work on ships, which are isolated worlds where there is little privacy, and rumors can be as damaging as reality. Army soldiers and officers, on the other hand, usually work on large, open posts where it is easier to have discreet relationships that do not affect others.

Even within each service, relationships can be difficult to sort out and understand. The Navy, which revamped and re-educated its sailors on gender relations after the 1991 Tailhook Association scandal, gives commanders a list of examples to help them figure out what is permitted and what is not.

The Defense Department's review, first reported in Friday's Washington Times, began in April and grew out of the department's larger review of sexual harassment and gender integration. Pang said it was evident to him that the issue had to be revisited ``given the changing nature of the military.''

But no one expects it to be easy, or for the result to be predictable. The traditions and practices of each service are strongly held, and each will be asked to defend its fraternization rules when the time comes and to participate in changing them if necessary.

``This is a fairly complex issue and as we get into it, it's like a spider web,'' said Lt. Gen. Norm Levy, deputy assistant secretary for military personnel policy. ``It's not going to be easy. There's going to be a lot of debate on this. . . . Each service will stand and defend what their policy is, and that will be a difficult thing.''

The group reviewing changes is not considering changes to the military law that makes adultery a crime. Its work is likely to be finished by the end of the summer. KEYWORDS: MILITARY FRATERIZATION

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