DUTIES.

SEC. 562. DUTIES. (a) Functions Relating to Requirements and Restrictions Regarding Cross-Gender Relationships.—The commission shall consider issues relating to personal relationships of members of the Armed Forces as follows: (1) Review the laws, regulations, policies, directives, and practices that govern personal relationships between men and women in the Armed Forces and personal relationships between members of the Armed Forces and non-military personnel of the opposite sex. (2) Assess the extent to which the laws, regulations, policies, and directives have been applied consistently throughout the Armed Forces without regard to the armed force, grade, rank, or gender of the individuals involved. (3) Assess the reports of the independent panel, the Department of Defense task force, and the review of existing guidance on fraternization and adultery that have been required by the Secretary of Defense. (b) Functions Relating to Gender-Integrated and Gender-Segregated Basic Training.—(1) The commission shall review the parts of the initial entry training programs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps that constitute the basic training of new recruits (in this subtitle referred to as “basic training”). The review shall include a review of the basic training policies and practices of each of those services with regard to gender-integrated and gender-segregated basic training and, for each of the services, the effectiveness of gender-integrated and gender-segregated basic training. (2) As part of the review under paragraph (1), the commission shall (with respect to each of the services) take the following measures: (A) Determine how each service defines gender-integration and gender-segregation in the context of basic training. (B) Determine the historical rationales for the establishment and disestablishment of gender-integrated or gender-segregated basic training. (C) Examine, with respect to each service, the current rationale for the use of gender-integrated or gender-segregated basic training and the rationale that was current as of the time the service made a decision to integrate, or to segregate, basic training by gender (or as of the time of the most recent decision to continue to use a gender-integrated format or a 111 STAT. 1752gender-segregated format for basic training), and, as part of the examination, evaluate whether at the time of that decision, the Secretary of the military department with jurisdiction over that service had substantive reason to believe, or has since developed data to support, that gender-integrated basic training, or gender-segregated basic training, improves the readiness or performance of operational units. (D) Assess whether the concept of “training as you will fight” is a valid rationale for gender-integrated basic training or whether the training requirements and objectives for basic training are sufficiently different from those of operational units so that such concept, when balanced against other factors relating to basic training, might not be a sufficient rationale for gender-integrated basic training. (E) Identify the requirements unique to each service that could affect a decision by the Secretary concerned to adopt a gender-integrated or gender-segregated format for basic training and assess whether the format in use by each service has been successful in meeting those requirements. (F) Assess, with respect to each service, the degree to which different standards nave been established, or if not established are in fact being implemented, for males and females in basic training for matters such as physical fitness, physical performance (such as confidence and obstacle courses), military skills (such as marksmanship and hand-grenade qualifications), and nonphysical tasks required of individuals and, to the degree that differing standards exist or are in fact being implemented, assess the effect of the use of those differing standards. (G) Identify the goals that each service has set forth in regard to readiness, in light of the gender-integrated or gender-segregated format that such service has adopted for basic training, and whether that format contributes to the readiness of operational units. (H) Assess the degree to which performance standards in basic training are based on military readiness. (I) Evaluate the policies of each of the services regarding the assignment of adequate numbers of female drill instructors in gender-integrated training units who can serve as role models and mentors for female trainees. (J) Review Department of Defense and military department efforts to objectively measure or evaluate the effectiveness of gender-integrated basic training, as compared to gender-segregated basic training, particularly with regard to the adequacy and scope of the efforts and with regard to the relevancy of findings to operational unit requirements, and determine whether the Department of Defense and the military departments are capable of measuring or evaluating the effectiveness of that training format objectively. (K) Compare the pattern of attrition in gender-integrated basic training units with the pattern of attrition in gender-segregated basic training units and assess the relevancy of the findings of such comparison. (L) Compare the level of readiness and morale of gender-integrated basic training units with the level of readiness and morale of gender-segregated units, and assess the relevancy of the findings of such comparison and the implications, for readiness, of any differences found.111 STAT. 1753 (M) Compare the experiences, policies, and practices of the armed forces of other industrialized nations regarding gender-integrated training with those of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. (N) Review, and take into consideration, the current practices, relevant studies, and private sector training concepts pertaining to gender-integrated training. (O) Assess the feasibility and implications of conducting basic training (or equivalent training) at the company level and below through separate units for male and female recruits, including the costs and other resource commitments required to implement and conduct basic training in such a manner and the implications for readiness and unit cohesion. (P) Assess the feasibility and implications of requiring drill instructors for basic training units to be of the same sex as the recruits in those units if the basic training were to be conducted as described in subparagraph (O). (c) Functions Relating to Basic Training Programs Generally.—The commission shall review the course objectives, structure, and length of the basic training programs of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The commission shall also review the relationship between those basic training objectives and the advanced training provided in the initial entry training programs of each of those services. As part of that review, the commission shall (with respect to each of those services) take the following measures: (1) Determine the current end-state objectives established for graduates of basic training, particularly in regard to— (A) physical conditioning; (B) technical and physical skills proficiency; (C) knowledge; (D) military socialization, including the inculcation of service values and attitudes; and (E) basic combat operational requirements. (2) Assess whether those current end-state objectives, and basic training itself, should be modified (in structure, length, focus, program of instruction, training methods or otherwise) based, in part, on the following: (A) An assessment of the perspectives of operational units on the quality and qualifications of the initial entry training graduates being assigned to those units, considering in particular whether the basic training system produces graduates who arrive in operational units with an appropriate level of skills, physical conditioning, and degree of military socialization to meet unit requirements and needs. (B) An assessment of the demographics, backgrounds, attitudes, experience, and physical fitness of new recruits entering basic training, considering in particular the question of whether, given the entry level demographics, education, and background of new recruits, the basic training systems and objectives are most efficiently and effectively structured and conducted to produce graduates who meet service needs. (C) An assessment of the perspectives of personnel who conduct basic training with regard to measures required to improve basic training.111 STAT. 1754 (3) Assess the extent to which the initial entry training programs of each of the services continue, after the basic training phases of the programs, effectively to reinforce and advance the military socialization (including the inculcation of service values and attitudes), the physical conditioning, and the attainment and improvement of knowledge and proficiency in fundamental military skills that are begun in basic training. (d) Recommendations.—The commission shall prepare— (1) with respect to each of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, an evaluation of gender-integrated and gender-segregated basic training programs, based upon the review under subsection (b); (2) recommendations for such changes to the current system of basic training as the commission considers warranted; and (3) recommendations for such changes to laws, regulations, policies, directives, and practices referred to in subsection (a)(1) as the commission considers warranted. (e) Reports.—(1) Not later than April 15, 1998, the commission shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives a report setting forth a strategic plan for the work of the commission and the activities and initial findings of the commission. (2) Not later than September 16, 1998, the commission shall submit a final report to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives. The final report shall set forth the activities, findings, and recommendations of the commission, including any recommendations for congressional action and administrative action that the commission considers appropriate. The report shall specifically set forth the views of the Secretaries of the military departments regarding the matters described in subparagraphs (O) and (P) of subsection (b)(2).