Posted on 02/26/2010 4:44:12 PM PST by SandRat
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26, 2010 – Female sailors will begin serving on submarines by the end of next year, with Naval Academy graduates leading the way, Navy leaders told a Senate committee yesterday.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Navy is in a good position to move forward with integrating women onto submarines.
“We think we learned a lot about integrating women in the services years ago, and those lessons are relevant today,” Mabus said. Those lessons, he said, include having a “critical mass” of female candidates, having senior women to serve as mentors, and having submarines that don’t require modifications: the SSBN ballistic missile and SSGN guided-missile subs.
Finally, Mabus said, “We have the lesson learned to make sure any questions are answered, … and we’re very open and transparent on how we’ll do this. We think this is a great idea that will enhance our warfighting capabilities.”
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates notified Congress on Feb. 19 of the intended change to Navy policy. Mabus had pushed for the change since taking office in May. Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, endorsed the change, saying in a statement released in September that his experience commanding a mixed-gender surface-combatant ship makes him “very comfortable” integrating women into the submarine force. The Navy changed its policy to allow women to serve on combatant ships in 1993.
“We have a great plan, and we’re ready to go for the first women to come aboard in late 2011,” Roughead told the Senate committee yesterday. In a prepared statement to the committee, he said the change would enable the submarine force “to leverage the tremendous talent and potential of our female officers and enlisted personnel.”
Besides the incoming officers from the academy, the first women submariners will include female supply corps officers at the department head level, Roughead said. The change will be phased in over time to include enlisted female sailors on the SSBN and SSGNs, he said. Women will be added to the Navy’s SSN fast-attack submarines after necessary modifications can be determined, he said.
“This initiative has my personal attention, and I will continue to keep you informed as we integrate these highly motivated and capable officers into our submarine force,” Roughead told the committee.
Parking the darn things would be a big problem for them.
Since I have no sisters, there are only two women in the world I have to please, my wife and my mother. Thank God for that. All other women, not so much. I treat them all the same. If you think I am a bad, you have no idea what it is like on a ship or sub. I do. This issue and DADT cut across all party lines. This is way to important for a "biker Chick" opinion to matter. (at least to me)
I’d serve aboard the femsub with the following provisions: Great chow hall, I don’t have to take the trash out, and “hot bunking”!
Now that is really a stupid position for a female. Of course the prisons are run by the politically correct, corrupt government, so this explains that behavior.
How DO they deal with garbage on subs? That has got to stink (literally).
Did Subs already have a few women on them?Docs or nurses?
It goes beyond pregnancy, group cohesion and medical issues and morale, it also includes things that women just can’t do.
When everything is going right, the sun is shining, nothing is burning and no one is dying, then women can handle most jobs, or have a male lift something for her, or turn something, or push or pull something for her without a problem, but when a third of the crew is dead or dying, metal is twisted and warped, the ship is burning and at threat of being lost, when hydraulics are out and ammunition and fighting equipment has to be muscled and wounded carried up and down ladders, then the 50% lessor, upper body strength of the female and the 1/3 less leg strength of the female, comes into play.
Ever seen a barf alert? Anything in parentheses is ok.
Leave and you will greatly improve the class of people here.
They throw into the reactor, it helps keep the boron rods clean. It's all part of normal PMS.
Use the reactor to incinerate it?
FR used to be a decent site, now it is filled with name calling, woman bashing, and outright disrespect.
Right, this mix of organic material and other debris actually is a great cleaning agent. It really keeps the reactor in tip top shape.
Ok, we get it. Can you leave now?, I think one of your cons is trying to call you for a date.
No bashing here, but I was in the Navy. We started losing females within weeks of starting a float and when we were stuck in the Persian Gulf for nearly a year, we lost half of our female crew to pregnancy.
The Navy knows that people of that age have sex. With a male crew, they stock up on condoms and antibiotics and treat the consequences as they come up. With female crew, you loose vital team members and put the mission at risk.
When you are floating around on the surface, you can fly pregnant sailors home and fly in replacements. That does not work on a submarine. They may be required to spends months at a time under the surface. This is not about who’s fault it is, it about supporting the mission.
When I was in the service, the mission always came first. Apparently that is not so now.
One final thought, on a nuclear submarine, the length of time they can spend underwater is only limited by the amount of food they can cram into the sub, and cram is the word, food is stacked in every space. Even finding space for 3 months of feminine hygiene products is going to be a real issue.
Now now, tomcats aren’t supposed to get into cat fights.
Misandry is just as ugly...
One more, Svily...just one.
Affirmative Action is a wonderful benefit, isn't it?
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