Bills on Military Parents Face Pentagon Objections

Steadfast opposition by the Pentagon may doom a raft of congressional proposals designed to give relief to single parents or military couples separated from their children by Operation Desert Storm.

The bills have been introduced in response to heart-rending stories about military parents who have been forced to leave their young children with grandparents or other guardians when they were called for duty in the Gulf War.

Two of the bills would allow parents in the military to opt out of combat in some circumstances, while others seek to ensure that mothers remain with newborns and direct the Pentagon to assign parents to bases where child care is available.

The Defense Department opposes such legislation on grounds that it would erode morale in the all-volunteer forces, hurt preparedness and set back the cause of women in the military by making it harder for them to get good assignments and promotions.

California Rep. Barbara Boxer (D-Greenbrae), who sponsored perhaps the most visible of the bills, said late Tuesday that she believes the Pentagon’s strong opposition may block her proposals, for the moment at least.

“I’m not optimistic that much is going to happen in this conflict, with the Pentagon opposing it from (Defense Secretary Dick) Cheney on down,” Boxer said. But she added: “I’m going to keep pushing. Public opinion has got to sway the powers that be.”

Boxer’s bill would give a single parent or one member of a two-parent military couple the option of declining an assignment in a military zone, although they would continue to serve elsewhere.

The Pentagon’s opposition was forcefully expressed Tuesday afternoon at a meeting of a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.

“This legislation isn’t just unnecessary, it’s also undesirable,” said Christopher Jehn, assistant secretary of defense for force management and personnel, describing the question as a “woman’s issue.”

“This legislation threatens to turn back the clock to the time when either marriage or motherhood threatened (the careers of) women,” he said.

Both sides agree that the issue has become particularly pressing because of the growing number of women and two-career couples in the armed forces and the way the call-up of reserves for the war has exacerbated child-care problems.

The percentage of women in the military has grown to about 11%, from 2% in 1973, when the all-volunteer force began. Throughout the armed services, there are 47,000 military couples with children, and 67,000 single parents, two-thirds of them men. In Operation Desert Storm, there are about 16,000 single parents, and about 1,200 military couples.

Boxer’s bill now has the support of 70 co-sponsors.

But the legislation faced tough questioning Tuesday from several subcommittee members, including the chairwoman, Rep. Beverly B. Byron (D-Md.), who described it as “one of the most difficult issues we will have to face this year.”