Military Housing and Facilities for American Servicewomen: The Built Environment of Cold War Era Servicewomen - Oveta Culp Hobby, Director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps

Although women have served in defense of our country since the American Revolutionary War, women were not given full military status until World War II. Providing full military status to women had repercussions for the built environment of the country's military installations, especially as the government mandated a gender-segregated military. It required a reconsideration of both the spatial organization and the design protocols used in constructing and/or rehabilitating military infrastructure, specifically as related to the housing, training, and workspaces of military women. This reconsideration led to ever-evolving regulations and standard operating procedures throughout the course of the Cold War concerning this matter, reflecting the military's immediate needs, as well as changing societal norms regarding gender. This project provides a service-wide historical context for how the accommodation of service women during the Cold War impacted the military's built environment. This historical context is based on archival research, oral histories, and an examination of historic photographs, plan maps, architectural drawings, and other associated primary documents.

In 1942, Oveta Culp Hobby, Director of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, addressed the inaugural class of women attending the Army's first female military training center at Fort Des Moines, Iowa: "You have taken off silk and put on khaki. You have a debt to democracy and a date with destiny." Also in 1942, folklore has it that the portrait of Archibald Henderson, former 5th Commandant of the Marine Corps, "crashed from the wall to the buffet the evening that Major General Commandant Thomas Holcomb announced his decision to recruit women into the Corps." To be sure, reactions ran the gamut at the thought of women in the military, even though in 1942, women were admitted only into the military reserves or auxiliary.

Preface * Acknowledgements * Acronyms * Chapter 1 - Introduction * A date with destiny * Objective and regulations * Methodology * Chapter 2 - World War II: Free a Man to Fight * Policy * Women's Area Layout * Recreational Facilities * Mess Halls * Detention Facilities * Housing Policy * Housing Design * Latrines * Laundry Facilities * Luggage Rooms * Fire Escapes * Lounges, Date Rooms, and Kitchens * Beauty Shops * Training * Chapter 3 - Post-War Period Integration: A Permanent Role for Women * Policy * Women's Armed Services Integration Act * Housing Design * Training * Chapter 4 - The Korean War and the 1950s * Recruitment and Retention * Policy and Utilization Studies * Housing Standards * Housing Design * Color Schemes * Support Facilities * Training * Chapter 5 - Vietnam and the 1960s: Typewriter Soldiers * Quality of Life and Housing Studies * Housing Design * Tri-Service Design * DoD Minimum Housing Standards * Training * Chapter 6 - All Volunteer Force and the 1970s: Typewriter Soldiers No More * All-Volunteer Force * Women's Roles and Expansion * Policy * Military Occupation Specialties * Equal Treatment * Housing Policy * Housing Design * New Barracks Designs * Detention Facilities * Equipment Training * Chapter 7 - Police Actions and the 1980s: All But Combat * Refining Women's Roles * Housing and Facility Design * Training * Chapter 8 - Conclusion: This Man's Army No More