Male and female soldiers work together in the Army. Someday they may forge into battle together. Now, they're going to train together, crawling through the hot sands of Fort Jackson side by side.
It used to be that male and female recruits were kept segregated during basic training. No more. The first coed units formed last month at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and here at Fort Jackson, two companies of 240 soldiers each, half men and half women, will form Friday. Three more coed companies will form in November.Fifteen hours a day for eight weeks, they will do sit-ups and push-ups and practice shooting, running, climbing and all the other rigors new recruits sweat through. Together. About the only things they'll do separately are bathe and sleep.
Not everyone likes the idea, but Staff Sgt. Edward L. Johnson, Fort Jackson's drill sergeant of the year, has a ready answer: "`When you were a little boy, there was one person who you always looked up to. You tell me your mother was weak? She was strong!' It works every time with the males."
Nevertheless, some remain unconvinced, including Charles C. Ross of Columbus, N.C., a retired Army colonel.
"Coed training will only produce diminished standards and results for the simple reason that women do not possess the strength and endurance of men," Ross said.
But Johnson maintains there's nothing like a little competition to bring out the best in his recruits: All he's got to tell the men is, "I've got a female who can outrun you."
Sgt. Barbara Davies, who participated in an experimental coed training course last year, found the competition spurred the women on as well: They wanted to prove they were as good as the men.
The battle of the sexes didn't keep the recruits from helping each other out, Davies said. Women guided men in the classroom, men guided weapons handling in the field.
That's the kind of teamwork top brass are hoping to see.
Men and women already study side-by-side after basic training. The Army experimented with coed basic training from 1978 to 1982, and again last year.