Multimedia Mania/abacus-multimedia-mania.iso/dp/0111/01116.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob01116}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{(A) History Of The Women Marines 1946-1977
Chapter 7: Part 1}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Stremlow, Col. Mary V.}
$Affiliation{U.S. Marine Corps Reserve}
$Subject{women
marine
corps
first
military
marines
police
lieutenant
officer
fields}
$Date{1986}
$Log{}
Title:       (A) History Of The Women Marines 1946-1977
Author:      Stremlow, Col. Mary V.
Affiliation: U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
Date:        1986

Chapter 7: Part 1

Utilization and Numbers:  Snell Committee, 1973-1977

     There was, in the early 1970's, an increased awareness of the phenomenon
called equal opportunity for women.  It permeated the family, the schoolroom,
business, religion, and the military.  In all fairness, laws, customs, and
prejudices notwithstanding, a case can be made for the advantageous position
of servicewomen compared to women in education, business, and industry.  There
were, however, recognized shortcomings which had to be dealt with.  The advent
of the all-volunteer force and the national women's liberation movement were
leading to increased use of women in the military.  On 1 September 1972, the
Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., recommended a plan
tailored to meet a goal stated as "allowing women an equal opportunity to
contribute their talents and to achieve full professional status in the Navy."
The Marine Corps had no such plan.

     One week later, the Secretary of Defense, Melvin R. Bird, directed the
services to develop by 30 November 1972 detailed equal opportunity/affirmative
action plans for minorities and servicewomen.  As a result, the Deputy Chief
of Staff (Manpower) of the Marine Corps, Lieutenant General Ormond R. Simpson,
proposed an ad hoc committee to be chaired by Colonel Albert W. Snell.  The
committee was tasked with developing a plan of action, objectives, and
milestones for a program to increase equal opportunity for women Marines.

     The membership of Colonel Snell's committee varied from time to time but
included representatives of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-1; Deputy Director
of Personnel; Director Division of Reserve; and Director Women Marines.
Included were Lieutenant Colonel Jenny Wrenn and Major Barbara E. Dolyak.  At
the initial, formal meetings, the committee established the goal to "increase
the effectiveness and utilization for all women Marines to fully utilize their
abilities in support of Marine Corps objectives."  Five specific objectives
identified to accomplish the goal were:

          a.  To identify and eliminate all discrimination based solely
     on sex.
          b.  To ensure to women Marines equal opportunity for assignment
     to and within noncombat occupational fields.
          c.  To provide the opportunity for women Marines to obtain
     technical and professional schooling at all levels.
          d.  To provide equal opportunity to women Marines for progression
     and advancement through duty assignments.
          e.  To ensure equal economic opportunity for women Marines.

     It happened that the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense
(Manpower and Reserve Affairs) Central All-Volunteer Task Force on the
Utilization of Military Women, headed by Colonel Helen A. Wilson, USMCR,
published a separate but related study in December 1972.  This report
specifically recommended that the Marine Corps:

     (1) Intensify its recruiting efforts for enlisted women.

     (2) Open additional job specialties to women.

     (3) Take action to reduce attrition rates to a level more comparable
         to that being experienced by the other services.

     (4) Advise after six months the results achieved in (1), (2), and (3)
         above and how these results affect its FY 1974 plans for female
         military strength in Marine Corps.

     A further consideration by the Snell Committee was the report of a task
group chaired by the Judge Advocate General of the Navy to review the portion
of Titles 10 and 37 of the United States Code which differentiated between the
treatment of men and women.

     Taking all into consideration, the Snell Committee identified 17 separate
tasks needed to attain its objectives.  A background position paper containing
the 17 tasks was then staffed to appropriate Headquarters agencies for
comment.  Colonel Margaret A. Brewer was given the job of reviewing the
comments, summarizing the recommendations, and making appropriate
modifications.

     The recommendations that evolved included several concerning promotion
boards that would require legislative action.  Most, however, challenged the
Marine Corps' policies and regulations that barred women from occupational
fields or schools based solely on sex.  The fields of logistics, military
police and corrections, and aircraft maintenance, all closed to women, were
singled out as possibilities for immediate action while all other noncombat
fields would be studied to determine their appropriateness for women Marines.
Two of the most unorthodox ideas presented were the plan that a pilot program
be established to assign women to stateside Fleet Marine Forces and the
recommendation that:

. . . the prohibition in the Marine Corps Manual which limits women
officers to succeeding to command only at those activities which have the
administration of Women Marines as their primary function be eliminated.

     According to Lieutenant Colonel Barbara Dolyak, a member of the Snell
Committee, it came as a surprise when the Commandant approved all
recommendations on 14 November 1973.  On the final page of the report, General
Robert E. Cushman, Jr., penned, "O.K. - let's move out."

Strength, 1973-1977

     In April 1973 a goal was set of 3,100 women Marines by 30 June 1977. This
represented a 30 percent increase of women's strength and completely
disregarded the traditional figure of one percent of total Marine Corps
enlisted strength.  Subsequently, the target date was moved up to 1 January
1976.  During the summer of 1976, the Commandant, General Louis H. Wilson,
Jr., responding to requests from commanders for additional women, to the
improved effectiveness of women in the Corps, and to the realities of the all
volunteer force, approved an additional increase in the size of the woman
Marine force.  The change was planned to be implemented over a six-year period
beginning 1 October 1976, with a recruiting goal for the year of 1,700 women
or 164 over the current annual input.  Beginning with fiscal year 1978, in
October 1977 the Corps aimed to recruit 2,500 women annually. Then in March
1977, appearing before a House Armed Services subcommittee, General Wilson
made the surprise announcement that the Marine Corps expected to have 10,000
women in its ranks by 1985.  Incremental increases were planned based on
logistical limitations related to uniform supplies and billeting space rather
than on need or availability of qualified applicants.  In 1975 18 percent of
all women who enlisted in the Marine Corps had attended college and some had
baccalaureate degrees.  In 1977, both recruiting and officer procurement
quotas were easily met with many fine young women being turned away.  On 30
June 1977, the strength of the active duty women Marines was 407 officers and
3,423 enlisted women for a total of 3,830.

     The reenlistment and retention rate for women improved to the point where
in 1974, the rate of retention for first-term WMs bettered that of male
Marines 9.9 percent to 7.9 percent.  In 1975, it was 10.4 percent for women
compared to 7.9 percent for the total Marine Corps.  No one factor is
responsible for the improved recruiting and retention of women.  The
indications point to a generation of women awakened to new horizons,
improvements in the woman Marine program brought on by the Pepper Board and
the Snell Committee, and the positive action taken by the Commandants to
publicize to all Marines the role of women in the Marine Corps.

New Occupational Fields

     The Snell Committee had recommended that the Marine Corps regulations and
policies not governed by law be reviewed to revise or eliminate those which
discriminated solely on the basis of sex without rational and valid reason,
and that all noncombat MOSs be examined to determine which could be made
available to women.  Since a task analysis of all noncombat occupational
fields was already underway at Headquarters and would not be completed for
several years, it was further recommended that certain fields be opened
immediately as a sign of good faith.  For officers, logistics, military police
and corrections, and aircraft maintenance were suggested, and for enlisted
women, the same three fields plus utilities and electronics.  Because of some
disagreement and in view of the ongoing study of all noncombat MOSs, only
logistics and military police and corrections were approved for officers and
utilities and military police and corrections for enlisted women.

     The final breakthrough, dropping all barriers except those grounded in
law, was made on 15 July 1975 when the Commandant, General Wilson, approved
the assignment of women to all occupational fields except the four considered
combat-related, infantry (03), artillery (08), armor (18), and flight crews
(75).  Management limitations, preservation of a rotation base for male
Marines, equal opportunity regardless of sex for job assignments and
promotions, need for adequate facilities and housing for WMs, and availability
of nondeployable billets, of necessity, affected the number of women assigned
to some fields, but this was truly a decisive change.

Military Police

     Records indicate that there were five women with a military police MOS in
1952 but a search of the records failed to reveal who they were or what duties
they performed.  It is likely that they were former WRs since the policy after
1948 had been not to assign women to this field.

     The Corps' first known post-World War II military policewoman, in January
1974, was Lance Corporal Harriett F. Voisine, a WM who had a bachelor of
science degree in criminology with a major in police science and
administration.  She had worked with the Police Department in Westminster,
California, before enlisting in July 1971 and, after recruit training, served
for two and one-half years in the Provost Marshal Office at Parris Island.
Taking courses on her own in juvenile delinquency; vice and narcotics;
criminal law; and arrest, search, and seizure procedures, she was a natural
candidate for the military police field when it was finally opened to women
Marines Lance Corporal Voisine, given on-the-job training by the recruit
depot's MPs, was used on the desk, on traffic control details, and on
motorized patrols.

     Two women Marines, Privates M. B. Ogborn and J. E. Welchel, were the
first to attend the seven-week Military Police School at Fort Gordon, Georgia,
graduating in April 1975.  Private Mary F. Bungcayo, who graduated from the
same course the following month was assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station,
Cherry Point, for duty.  In a 1977 interview, Corporal Bungcayo stated that
she met some male opposition at first, but no restrictions.  She worked on the
desk and on patrol; she responded to fires and flight emergencies; and she
stood guard on the gate.  Corporal Bungcayo, who joined the Marine Corps with
the guarantee of military police work, believed that on the job she was given
the same responsibilities as the male MPs.

     Second Lieutenant Debra J. Baughman, the first woman officer in the
military police field, was assigned to the Provost Marshal Office at Camp
Lejeune after graduation from the 35th Woman Officer Basic Course in March
1975.  She entered the field with a degree in corrections but no experience.
At Camp Lejeune she was assigned as platoon leader for a platoon of MPs and in
the opinion of Colonel Valeria F. Hilgart, the base G-1, "She did a topnotch
job."

     The next two officers to enter the 5800 field, military police, were
Second Lieutenants Mary A. Krusa and Judith A. Cataldo.  Neither had any
police experience but both had majored in criminology and the police science
field in college.  In January 1976 all three attended the Military Police
Officer Orientation Course at Fort McClellan, Alabama, to obtain formally the
5803 MOS.  After graduation in February 1976, Second Lieutenant Krusa reported
to El Toro as the assistant operations officer for the Provost Marshal Office
and Second Lieutenant Cataldo reported to Cherry Point for assignment as the
officer in charge of the Traffic Investigation, Traffic Control, and Pass and
Identification Section.  Second Lieutenant Baughman returned to Camp Lejeune.
Each of the three officers had received more extensive training in their MOS
to include attendance at Northwestern University's Traffic Institute at
Evanston, Illinois.

     On the subject of police work for women, Second Lieutenant Cataldo, in
March 1977, wrote:

Speaking for myself, I love the field.  It is a constantly changing challenge.
Twenty-five male MPs work for me and I am given a great deal of
responsibility.  I feel that after the initial testing and proving period I
have been fully accepted.  I would recommend the field to other women trained
in it as it is still growing and developing professionally . . . .  It
frequently demands 24 hour duty (PMO duty officer) five days per month and
proficiency with various weapons . . . .  For women interested in the police
field it offers a great deal.

Presiding Judges

     There were seldom more than one or two women Marine lawyers on active
duty at one time, and it was news when in 1970, First Lieutenant Patricia
Murphy was named a certified military judge.  But in 1974, it was Captain
Eileen M. Albertson, second woman to be certified a military judge, who became
the first to preside in a courtroom.  A graduate of Bloomsburg State College
and the Marshall Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary, she
served in the Marine Corps Reserve for a six-year tour before going on active
duty.  She served nine months in Judge Advocate General School for military
lawyers at Charlottesville, Virginia; 14 months on Okinawa as prosecutor and
foreign claims commissioner; and some months as defense counsel at Quantico.

     As a judge, Captain Albertson was praised by her colleague, Captain David
A. Schneider, who said, "I would give her the highest compliment - I'd call
her a professional.  She shows that she is more interested in justice and
fairness than formality or speed . . . ."  Her former commanding officer,
Colonel Joseph R. Motelewski, commented bluntly, "She is one of the finest
lawyers I've ever worked with."

     In an effort to attract persons of needed skills, the Marine Corps
inaugurated a program of direct Reserve commissions for those who met the
criteria. Reserve Marine Major Sara J. Harper, a judge of the Municipal Court
of Cleveland, Ohio, entered the Corps as a lawyer and served a number of tours
on active duty over a four-year period.  Then in 1977, she was appointed a
military judge by General Louis H. Wilson, in ceremonies in his office.

Breaking the Tradition

     Improved educational level of women recruits, a changed attitude of
society toward the role of working women, especially in technical and
professional fields, and an open mindedness in the Corps brought on by the
Pepper Board and fostered by the Snell Committee, and finally the Commandant's
key decision in July 1975, combined to increase the assignments of women to a
greater variety of occupational fields.  For example:

     In November 1973, Second Lieutenant Patricia M. Zaudtke was assigned as
one of the first two WM motor transport officers.

     In June 1974, Captain Shirley L. Bowen was the only woman and the first
woman Marine to graduate from the 34-week Advanced Communication Officer
Course.

     Private Mary P. McKeown made history at the Army's Ordnance Center and
School, Aberdeen, Maryland, when she became the first WM to attend the Metal
Body Repair Course.  Her classroom instruction included practical work in gas
welding, exterior finishing of metal bodies, glass cutting, and instruction in
inert gas metal welding techniques.

     First Lieutenant Dian S. George, in 1975, was the first woman Marine to
be assigned to the inspector-instructor staff of an all-male Reserve unit,
Headquarters and Service Company, Supply Battalion, 4th Force Service Support
Group, at Newport News, Virginia.  Previously she had served as the assistant
SASSY officer at Cherry Point, North Carolina.  SASSY is the acronym for
Supported Activity Supply System, which was, at the time, a new computerized
way of keeping track of all Marine Corps equipment.  Thus it was not merely
coincidental that First Lieutenant George found herself at the Newport News
unit, the first Reserve company to have the SASSY system, one which tied into
the computer at Camp Lejeune.  During drill weekend she worked on the
organization and supervision of the training program which included computer
programming and key punch operations skills.  In addition she served as
personnel, public relations, and recruiting officer on the staff headed by
Lieutenant Colonel Robert J. Esposito.  For the lieutenant, being in an
all-male outfit was not entirely new since she had participated in the 1974
pilot program permitting women to serve in the Fleet Marine Forces.

     Private First Class Cathy E. Smith was the first woman Marine to attend
the Water Supply and Plumbing Course at Camp Lejeune.  The training which
began on 14 July 1975 was concerned mainly with water purification, i.e.,
supplying fresh water to Marines in the field.

     On 28 January 1977, Sergeant Deborah A. Rubel, a mechanic in the fuel and
electrical shop, Motor Transport and Maintenance Company, 2nd Maintenance
Battalion, Force Troops, 2nd Force Service Support Group, was named Force
Troops 2nd FSSG Marine of the Quarter, high praise for a woman serving in the
FMF in a nontraditional job.

     Second Lieutenant Jo Anne Kelly became, in January 1977, the first of
four women in her occupational field to qualify for the 7210 MOS, Air Defense
Control Officer.  She finished initial training at Twentynine Palms in August
1976 and then reported to the Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort, where she
completed the required number of live intercepts in tactical flight missions.

     On 9 January 1977, three WMs, Sergeants Connie Dehart and Cynthia Martin,
and Corporal Geneva Jones, were reported to be the first women to earn their
wings while serving as flight attendants on the C-9B Skytrain. After a
two-week familiarization course at the McDonnell Douglas School, the women's
duties included loading baggage and cargo, and serving meals. In an interview
in March 1977, Sergeant Jones indicated that there was no resentment shown by
male Marines with whom she worked, but at least one lieutenant colonel was
uncomfortable about her work as he ordered her out of the cargo compartment
and loaded his own baggage.

     Private First Class Pamela Loper, the first woman Marine to hold a
tractor-trailer license at Camp Lejeune since World War II, was described in
April 1977 by Lieutenant Colonel John F. Drummond, base motor transport
officer, as ". . . a much better driver than some of our experienced men."
Private First Class Loper drove a large tractor-trailer rig, known as a "semi"
or "18 wheeler."  She obtained her license after passing tests on handling the
vehicle and hooking up and unhooking the trailer.

     Private First Class Katie Jones Dixon, Headquarters and Maintenance
Squadron-32's first WM jet mechanic, worked on jet engines and components
which MAG-32's squadrons sent to its power plant for repair.  Extensive
schooling prepared her to do the type of intermediate maintenance that the
squadrons were not authorized to perform.

     Private First Class Gail Faith Morise, first enlisted woman to attend the
12-week Automotive Mechanics School at Camp Lejeune, was also the first WM to
be assigned to Cherry Point's Motor Transport Division.