American Notes ARMED FORCES

Recruiting posters of smiling female sailors in blue-and-white uniforms tout the Navy as a great career for women. What they don't brag about is the charges that have been leveled at the Navy for the way it treats many women. Now a report by the Navy's Inspector General has targeted the sprawling Orlando Naval Training Center, which includes the only boot camp for women, as the site of repeated infractions. During the 18-month period ending in June, the report said, there were at least six cases of rape of women at Orlando -- and no prosecutions. The investigation also unearthed charges of sexual assaults and social-fraternization violations.

Navy spokesmen say all the rape cases were dropped either for lack of evidence or because the victims recanted. Still, the Inspector General criticized the investigation procedures. Last week the Navy brass -- already embarrassed during the past year by allegations of sexual harassment at the Naval Academy in Annapolis and of rape aboard two Navy ships -- ordered a service-wide review.