Word: aspine
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...path to the stars, especially those worn on uniforms, was opened last week. Defense Secretary Les Aspin ordered all the services to remove restrictions on women flying combat aircraft and said he would ask Congress to lift the ban on women serving aboard warships at sea. The change has long been visible on the horizon, but it was hurried along by a Navy eager to do something to smooth the choppy wake left by its official report on Tailhook. As the damaging document was readied for release two weeks ago, Navy brass quietly assured servicewomen at the Pentagon that...
...Aspin called the new role for women "historic." There are only about 800 female pilots in uniform now, so the number of women combat flyers will be relatively low for some time -- a few hundred out of more than 41,000 pilots in all the services. It is still a dramatic departure in American society and its armed forces. The new era was symbolized at Aspin's Pentagon press conference by Air Force Captain Sharon Preszler, 28, a soft-spoken strawberry blond. "I can be a killer," she said firmly. "I can and will kill in defense of my country...
...issue of women in combat is still not entirely resolved. Before Aspin's order went out, about half the 1.75 million slots in the armed forces were closed to the 201,000 women in uniform because they could not serve in combat units. Under the new rules, they are still ineligible for about 40% of the slots. The reason: those assignments are in "combat arms" of Army and Marine ground forces, mainly infantry, armored units and artillery. While a few slots might open up for women in missile artillery, no one is talking about putting women into tanks or foxholes...
...that Wiesel expressed. Would that it were so simple. All week Clinton wrestled with the conflicting advice offered by his foreign-policy makers, themselves divided between the go-slow counsel of Christopher and Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell and the more robust preferences of Defense Secretary Les Aspin and National Security Adviser Anthony Lake. When the President was asked at his news conference on Friday how he evaluated the options, his body language spoke volumes. He rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath and a long pause before saying he was "reluctant" to talk about them in public...
...deserved reputation as a consensus builder. "He tried that right off with the Joint Chiefs over the issue of gays in the military, and got swatted down by Colin Powell and Sam Nunn," says an Administration official. Competing lessons were drawn from that early dustup. Defense Secretary Les Aspin said, "Obviously, a lot more consultation with key players like Nunn" would have helped. Clinton's rhetoric agreed, but his actions since often haven't. "A quote in an article back then still bothers him," says a Clinton aide. "The one where a Senator said that while everyone respects Bill...