SEX IN THE MILITARY: THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

THROUGHOUT HISTORY, THE MILITARY HAS SOUGHT TO REGULATE SOCIALIZING AMONG THE RANK AND FILE, BUT CONTROLLING SEX AND LOVE HAS ALWAYS BEEN TRICKY

In the final chapters of the Kelly Flinn saga, Air Force officials went to great lengths to suggest they were not engaged in an airborne rewrite of The Scarlet Letter. The issue of infidelity may have dominated the drama's coverage, but as Air Force spokesman Joseph LaMarca insists, "Adultery is the least important charge in this whole case. There were significant breaches of official conduct," including disobeying a direct order.

Perhaps so. But for the public and its elected representatives, the issue with which Flinn launched her publicity blitz was the one that commandeered the imagination. Citizens who couldn't bridge the...

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