Forces Nix Training Split

DAILY BRIEFING

Forces Nix Training Split

The Army, Navy and Air Force are voicing opposition to an advisory board's suggestion that men and women be separated in basic training, according to the Associated Press.

"We want to train as we fight," one senior military official said Tuesday. "We are not going to gender segregate."

In December, a committee headed by former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, recommended that male and female recruits be segregated during most of basic training and live in separate barracks.

The committee, which was appointed by Defense Secretary William Cohen, said that integrated housing and training contributes to a higher rate of disciplinary problems.

But the three services argue that keeping men and women apart would not prepare them for the real world of the military, where women no serve on warships and fly combat aircraft. Only the Marine Corps, which is geared primarily toward ground combat and assault missions, trains the sexes separately.

The recommendations by the three services will be presented next week, but the final decision will be up to Cohen, several military senior officials told the AP.

In January, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) released a report saying more, not less, gender-integrated military training is needed.

After conducting visits to 12 training schools at nine military installations, DACOWITS concluded that gender segregation during basic training and in barracks impedes professional development and work readiness.