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Navy moves to put women on submarines
hosted ^ | Oct 13 | RUSS BYNUM and PAULINE JELINEK

Posted on 10/13/2009 1:32:44 PM PDT by JoeProBono

Submariners sleep nine to a bunk room. There are four showers and seven toilets for the roughly 140 enlisted men. The passageways on board the vessel are so narrow that crew members can barely squeeze by each other without touching.

And that's on the roomiest submarines.

The Navy is considering allowing women to serve aboard submarines for the first time, 16 years after bringing female sailors onto surface combat ships.

Some sailors and wives warn that putting men and women together in extremely close quarters underwater for weeks at a time is just asking for sexual harassment cases and wrecked marriages. But supporters of the idea say it is a matter of fairness and equal opportunity, and what worked on ships can work in subs.

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: feminism; submarines; waves
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US Navy Woman Petty Officer with Gonads

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Emily K. Klinefelter may be a woman and a sailor, but she wants people to know that she has seen combat firsthand and gone through a lot of the same experiences as her brethren in the ground forces.


1 posted on 10/13/2009 1:32:44 PM PDT by JoeProBono
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To: JoeProBono

2 posted on 10/13/2009 1:34:53 PM PDT by americanophile (Sarcasm: satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language.)
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To: americanophile

operation petticoat!


3 posted on 10/13/2009 1:38:22 PM PDT by aliquando (A Scout is T, L, H, F, C, K, O, C, T, B, C, and R.)
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To: aliquando

Submarines aren’t like surface ships.


4 posted on 10/13/2009 1:40:27 PM PDT by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: JoeProBono

The headline, “Navy moves to”... implies it has been decided, not that it is under consideration.


5 posted on 10/13/2009 1:45:17 PM PDT by NEMDF
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To: JoeProBono

BAD IDEA


6 posted on 10/13/2009 1:51:04 PM PDT by CCCnative (waiting for socialism to fail in Santa Cruz as it did in Soviet Russia)
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To: JoeProBono

The passageways on board the vessel are so narrow that crew members can barely squeeze by each other without touching.

Right there I can see a lot of sexual harassment cases.


7 posted on 10/13/2009 1:55:20 PM PDT by Fred Hayek (From this point forward the Democratic Party will be referred to as the Communist Party)
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To: massgopguy
I served some time on ships with women. There is a lot of stuff that is covered up by the Navy. Affairs are very common and prostitution is kept very quite. While I was on one of the ships they busted 2 female sailors with large amounts of cash in their lockers. I remember one had over $6000 in cash (after only 7 weeks at sea). It was common knowledge among the enlisted and embarked Marines she was the one to see for recreational activities. The only punishment she got was confiscation of the money and no liberty when we made port calls. The Navy hides this due to pressure from the higher ups to make it look like it was the right decision.
8 posted on 10/13/2009 2:03:19 PM PDT by Angry_White_Man_Syndrome
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To: massgopguy

You are quite right. A great understatement also. An attack or missle boat in combat is no place to test social theory. The reason a carrier can have women is because there is enough space to provide social privacy. There is NO privacy on a submarine as a design function of the extreme conditions under which it must operate. This is not the Air Force where everyone gets to go home after action. In wartime, the boats are committed to 3-4 months submerged- their purpose is to remain undetected and a deterrent force against enemy vessels. Here is an example of the kind of operational quiet that is observed: a submariner had an infection/need for surgery that could not be handled on board. Encoded messages set up a precise, timed rendevous off Iceland with a chopper. The chopper was on time, the sub was late, and took too long on the surface transferring the sailor, revealing it’s position. The sub’s captain was relieved of command for exposing a major part of our defense to attack. So, if you add in the particular screening of these submariners and mix in the two sexes in this kind of world—who, in fact, would serve— not the tough stable family men who make up the backbone of this elite service. What husband would want his wife serving with other men in such confined circumstances and what wife would want their husband to do so? The most important navies of the world have already tested this— and they do not do it.


9 posted on 10/13/2009 2:03:55 PM PDT by John S Mosby (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: americanophile

10 posted on 10/13/2009 2:04:53 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: Angry_White_Man_Syndrome

The TV Show Carrier on PBS highlighted how some officers have to perform in the role of couples counselors when onboard affairs run amok.

As if the burden of officership wasn’t complex enough.

You cannot throw young men and women together in close quarters and not expect some fireworks.


11 posted on 10/13/2009 2:06:23 PM PDT by swarthyguy (MEAT, the new tobacco. Your right to eat meat ends where my planetary ecosystem begins.)
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To: JoeProBono

This is a stupid idea.


12 posted on 10/13/2009 2:06:40 PM PDT by bmwcyle (We need more Joe Wilson's. OBAMA is ACORN ACORN is OBAMA)
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To: CCCnative

13 posted on 10/13/2009 2:07:43 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono

Bad idea.


14 posted on 10/13/2009 2:07:45 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: bmwcyle

15 posted on 10/13/2009 2:10:00 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono

How often will the tubes be checked in the torpedo room?


16 posted on 10/13/2009 2:10:33 PM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't fly, can't ski, can't drive, can't skipper a boat, but they know what's best.)
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To: JoeProBono

This wasn’t even considered as an option under Bush Adminstration.


17 posted on 10/13/2009 2:15:51 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: N. Theknow
I was thinking the same thing.

Gives new meaning to "Torpedo away!"

18 posted on 10/13/2009 2:25:07 PM PDT by Northern Yankee (Freedom Needs A Soldier)
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To: JoeProBono

So What, I see you never went to sea on a submarine.


19 posted on 10/13/2009 2:33:21 PM PDT by bmwcyle (We need more Joe Wilson's. OBAMA is ACORN ACORN is OBAMA)
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To: bmwcyle

20 posted on 10/13/2009 2:35:21 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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