Posted on 09/24/2009 4:37:19 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Women should be allowed to serve aboard America's fleet of nuclear submarines, the nation's top military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, quietly has told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
If the Navy agrees to it, this would be a huge policy change and potentially a significant expansion of career opportunities for female officers and sailors.
Women have been barred by Navy policy from submarines, even as the sea service began 15 years ago to integrate females into other seagoing combat roles including aboard surface warships and in fighter jets.
Mullen, former chief of naval operations and a career surface warfare officer, made his position on submarines known in written responses to questions from the committee to prepare for Mullen's confirmation hearing to serve a second two-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
"As an advocate for improving the diversity of our force, I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring their service aboard submarines," Mullen told senators.
Opponents of lifting the ban have argued for decades that space is at a premium on submarines. To accommodate privacy needs of females, including separate berthing and "heads" or toilet/shower facilities, would be "prohibitively expensive," Navy has argued. Watch duty, bunk management, extra supplies and incidents of fraternization and harassment would complicate submarine life, according to one study done for the Navy in 1994.
No senator actually raised the female submariner issue with Mullen during his Sept. 15 confirmation hearing. The focus was Afghanistan and Iraq. And Navy officials had no immediate comment on Mullen's position.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
When I was in the Army in Germany, we began to have women assigned to headquarters battery communications platoon, for whatever reason. Someone wanted to have them in the same barracks as other HQ battery personnel. Our battalion commander said he wasn’t running a whorehouse and had them billeted in the nearest WAC facility about five miles away. They got a ride into work every morning.
I’m guessing the pregnancy rate for WAVES on subs will exceed more than 100% on average. Time will tell.
A wise comment, and true!
That MAD video is the women v women problem. Envision future Blue and Gold crews engendered to the fullest extent of probability. Old idealistic legislators and dim-whitted Admirals forget what pecker-headed youthful passion. Babes on subs a nightmare.
I agree completely! It was just too funny to pass over.
Subs are a tough nut. Morale is very important. I honestly don’t think I’d want to see the male/female dynamic at work in these subs.
Just for argument sake, I think I'm gonna come down in favor of women on subs.
Compared to larger ships like aircraft carriers, there are fewer places on a sub to conduct romantic affairs with any chance of privacy. Yet modern subs can probably accommodate sufficient privacy for normal social modesty necessary for personal hygiene... changing clothes, bathing, etc.
I don't know for sure, of course.
But I do think that this may be less of a problem than on larger ships.
The major hurdle is public perception.
People like to gossip, and they always tend to imagine the "worst", especially if they've never been on a sub.
Just my 2¢
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