Double Standards
[Reprinted from Issues & Views Fall 1997]
After Nature once again asserts itself (and it always does), and after
Western man gets his act together again (not in our lifetime), this legal case
probably will be looked upon as one of the more foolish episodes of our
peculiar times.
It all began in 1995 when the Center for Military Readiness (CMR) published
a report that contained 105 pages of records related to women s training in the
Navy. The CMR, headed by Elaine Donnelly, was formed in 1993, to monitor and
measure the impact of new social policies that were imposed on the military to
satisfy the demands of feminist and homosexual interest groups. The Center is
composed of civilians and former military personnel who are concerned about the
ongoing effectiveness of the Armed Forces and the consequences of social
engineering.
The published report, entitled, "CMR Special Report: Double Standards
in Naval Aviation," made clear the lowered standards at work in the Navy,
when it came to the training of women pilots. This news may not have caused
much stir in a military that is fast feminizing, were it not for the in-flight
death of a female pilot and the dismissal of another.
Lt. Kara Hultgreen was killed in October 1994, while trying to land her
F-14 Tomcat fighter plane. The other woman pilot, Lt. Carey Lohrenz, was
dismissed from further aviation training after her flying performance was
described by instructors as "unsafe, undisciplined, and
unpredictable."
The CMR's report is filled with factual data on how the Navy leaned over
backwards to accommodate the obvious shortcomings of women trainees. Naval
flight instructor, Lt. Patrick Burns, has gone public with his disclosures of
the double standards that are now part of Navy procedure. There are detailed
accounts of the unfortunate Lt. Hultgreen's flying sessions and the
difficulties she was having in learning to control her airplane. During her
final session, while attempting to land on an aircraft carrier, Hultgreen
crashed into the sea.
Lt. Lohrenz, who failed in her attempts to master the flying of an F-14,
has filed a lawsuit against Elaine Donnelly and the Center for Military
Readiness. Lohrenz blames Donnelly for the termination of her career as a
pilot. According to her and her lawyers, the publication of Lohrenz s dismal
flight record violated her privacy and "defamed" her. In Lohrenz
v. Donnelly, Lohrenz claims that the report, and the ensuing news stories,
caused her to "lose confidence" in her flying abilities and caused
her colleagues to "scorn" her. Actually, the initial CMR report
identified her only as "Pilot B." It was later articles by media
reporters that named her as the pilot in question.
Those who support the CMR consider the lawsuit a direct assault on First
Amendment rights of free speech. They believe that the obvious goal of the
Lohrenz suit is to silence open discussion about safety and double standards in
military training. This is seen by many as a major public policy issue. The
desire to shut down discussion is clear, since Lohrenz also has named two
newspapers as defendants in the suit, because they published articles about the
CMR report.
Intimidated by the outsiders who now set policy for the military, the Navy
s brass ran for cover. They first withheld certain information, apparently,
because it would reinforce CMR s claims about double standards. Next, the
Admirals equivocated on undeniable facts in the case, sending out false reports
that Hultgreen's accident was due to "engine problems." And, as could
be expected in our current politically correct climate, the brass decided to
reinstate Lohrenz, as a land-based pilot. Elaine Donnelly says that this
"concession" to Lohrenz "overruled the first-hand judgments of a
long line of instructors and superiors in the Pacific chain of command."
Those instructors, by the way, once described Lohrenz as engaging in a
"high and fast" landing technique, which "scared everyone but
her."
To learn more about this case and for current reports on today's
military, subscribe to CMR s newsletter. Contact: Center for Military
Readiness, P.O. Box 51600, Livonia, MI 48151; (303) 464-9430;
http://www.cmrlink.org
Copyright © 2001 Issues & Views
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