ABSTRACT
In 1997 First Lieutenant Ryan Berry, US Air Force, an honors graduate from the US Military Academy (cross-commissioned to the US Air Force), was assigned to the 740th Missile Squadron at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. His duties included standing watch in isolated bunkers buried 90 feet underground, each one 12×20 feet in size and containing a bunk, a toilet, and a curtain separating these simple living facilities from the instruments and launch systems necessary to operate a Minuteman III missile. During missile alerts, two officers could expect to spend 24 to 48 hours together in these tiny missile control sites. Lieutenant Berry learned that, in this assignment, the possibility existed that he might be required to stand missile alert duty with a female missile crew member. A devout Roman Catholic and married man, Lieutenant Berry believed his faith required him to avoid situations in which he might develop inappropriate intimacy, even if platonic, with a woman who was not his wife. In addition, Berry was concerned that spending several days in the bunker with a female officer might give the appearance of impropriety, potentially damaging his marriage, which his faith demanded he seek always to preserve and protect. To set aside or ignore these convictions, he believed, would require that he ignore his obligations to practice not only physical fidelity within marriage, but also emotional and spiritual fidelity; thus, he felt obligated by his faith to request an accommodation of his religious beliefs and practice.
