Women in Military and Harassment

Re “Women Love the Army” (Commentary, July 1) and “Female Sailors Accuse Navy of Retribution” (July 2):

There is a telling irony between the claim made by the Army War College fellow (Harry Summers Jr.) who wrote that women in the military “perhaps . . . have a more common-sense approach to sexual harassment than feminist fanatics” and the retributive harassment the three female sailors at Point Mugu who accused their superiors of sexually harassing them are now receiving from Navy officials.

The second article vividly illustrates why women in the military who are sexually harassed by men usually do not report that harassment: What results is an all-out war on that particular woman. To many men in the military, a woman is either the metaphorical equivalent of an MP working dog or she’s put on a pedestal and revered as “common-sensical” by those who believe military women should just put up or shut up.

DESIREE DREEUWS

Los Angeles

* Re “Complainant in Navy Harassment Probe Is Sentenced,” July 3: I served eight years in the Army, and I’m a Gulf War veteran. Military service in any branch is not an exercise in comfort in which a Barbie-doll-type can whine and snivel her way through promotions, awards and cozy assignments. Believe it or not, women do exaggerate claims to get what they want, sometimes.

I would also mention that if anyone of either gender is incapable of surviving offensive language, perhaps they should find a different occupation. I say to women, go and join the military, but bring your own backbone; no one respects a crybaby.

GARY G. TRYK

Torrance