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Academy Women to Become First Female Submariners (stupid idea)
American Forces Press Service ^ | Lisa Daniel

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: bhodod; bhosecdef; submarines; submatines; usna; usnavy; women
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To: Travis McGee

Also shouldn’t a “biker chick” be accustomed to some, er, male horsing around?


261 posted on 02/26/2010 8:53:29 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick
FR used to be a decent site, now it is filled with name calling, woman bashing, and outright disrespect.

You are so full of crap, dear, your eyes must be brown. I've been here for TWO YEARS LONGER than you have, and FR is the same decent site it always was, even before you got here.

Jeez Louieeze, you are the EPITOME, the PERFECT EXAMPLE with your emotional histrionics, of exactly WHY women don't belong on submarines! Get a grip and try to be less of the stereotype idiot female, wouldja? You're giving the rest of us females a bad name.

262 posted on 02/26/2010 8:53:46 PM PST by Finny ("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent.)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick
If they pass all the physical trials and exams I do not see why not.

Before or after they lower the physical exam requirements, to make sure "enough" women pass, like they have for firefighters, cops, soldiers etc?

What's next, women SEALs, who are allowed to do knee pushups, and a "bar hang" instead of pull ups?

263 posted on 02/26/2010 8:54:40 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Travis McGee

No problem, if they need to get somebody up a ladder, they’ll just turn the sub upside down to help.


264 posted on 02/26/2010 8:56:49 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: HiTech RedNeck

You would think a “biker chick” would not be so thin-skinned.


265 posted on 02/26/2010 8:59:33 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: FreedomPoster

Im bored. the reactors are all hermetically sealed.


266 posted on 02/26/2010 9:00:14 PM PST by mylife (Opinions: $1.00 Halfbaked: 50c)
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To: ansel12; mylife
... he said that if a new guy could not fit in that he had to go, he pointed out that if the crew turned on you, it was terrible. ...You know what will happen if females become the object of that negative focus ...

And that's only half the equation. Men are pikers compared to women when it comes to dishing out negative focus.

267 posted on 02/26/2010 9:00:35 PM PST by Finny ("Raise hell. Vote smart." -- Ted Nugent.)
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To: Finny
(Just ask my poor long-suffering husband)

Forget #255.

268 posted on 02/26/2010 9:01:37 PM PST by xone
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To: mylife

Oh, I know, and I know you know. You were just a cc: on that one.

I never served, but they did try to recruit me for the NUPOC program when I was in college, many moons ago. I have a much better idea about the hardware involved than most.


269 posted on 02/26/2010 9:02:32 PM PST by FreedomPoster (No Representation without Taxation!)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Surface ships have MUCH more room per sailor, and many more open spaces, passageways etc where you are not crammed person to person 24/7, compared to subs.

But that “no sky” issue is also very big. It might be tight in crew quarters on a destroyer, but you have weather decks where you can feel the hugeness of the universe and feel your spirit fly with the sea birds. Horizon to horizon views of squalls, sunsets, sunrises, starry nights, and all the phases of the moon.

It’s a great psychological morale factor that the surface sailors get, that the sub sailors don’t have at all. Subs are literally close quarters pressure cookers, where when you undress, the guy on the bottom rack is about a foot from your butt.

Yeah, let’s put twenty year old girls into that equation!


270 posted on 02/26/2010 9:03:48 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: Finny

Tell us about it. The most hurtful people I’ve ever known carried around a vagina, not a penis. I think that’s because people expect women to be nurturing, and when they aren’t it is a double trap.


271 posted on 02/26/2010 9:05:46 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: Travis McGee

Sex city.


272 posted on 02/26/2010 9:07:41 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (I am in America but not of America (per bible: am in the world but not of it))
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To: mylife; ansel12
Let me post the most important reply on this thread again. From the time women were put on combatants until today, it's all been blue skies and butterflies for our Navy.

Now, recall naval reality from the fire on the Forrestal to ships torpedoed and burning in WW2. That is naval reality, and it will happen again. War at sea is not an episode of Star Trek, folks!

“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.”

273 posted on 02/26/2010 9:09:09 PM PST by Travis McGee (---www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com---)
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To: SandRat

http://diodon349.com/Stories/story_about_sex_and_subs.htm


274 posted on 02/26/2010 9:20:15 PM PST by cranked
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To: HiTech RedNeck

If it is a mixed-sex crew the sub will be named the USS Larry Flynt.

Stupid idea whose time will never come. No pun.


275 posted on 02/26/2010 9:39:10 PM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick; mylife

I really don’t want to get between a boorish argument, but you both need to use “too” as in very.


276 posted on 02/26/2010 9:41:02 PM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick

Where’s the anti-women comments?


277 posted on 02/26/2010 9:43:04 PM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: John S Mosby

Excellent and informative comments. Thanks.


278 posted on 02/26/2010 10:05:02 PM PST by 1010RD (First Do No Harm)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick; GrannyAnn
My statement stands. Hypersensitive, overly emotional and intellectually inferior women have no business being around men in any capacity whatsoever. Perhaps you should shield yourself and not visit Free Republic any more.

Are you one of the owners of this site? If not I suggest you keep your opinion to yourself. She has every right to be on this thread as you or I do FYI. And she has been here years before you.

279 posted on 02/26/2010 10:06:31 PM PST by pandoraou812 (Alcohol/drug/dementia testing & term limits ought to be mandatory for politicians.)
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To: cranked
The Washington Times says creating coed living quarters on Virginia-class subs ``would be expensive and have two negative effects: further degrade habitability for both genders and require removal of operational equipment reducing war-fighting effectiveness.``
280 posted on 02/26/2010 10:09:56 PM PST by mylife (Opinions: $1.00 Halfbaked: 50c)
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