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.
How about rotating the shifts so the women are the boss when the boat is about to go PMS. That will nicely maximize the hell on board.
>> This isn’t your grandmother’s Navy.
You gotta wonder if they’ve already ran trials.
I wonder if it is the general shape of a submarine that attracts a certain type of woman.
That happens all the time already. Usually in transit to a mission or on the way back, and the entire crew will bust the offenders ass like a load of hurt.
Usually the clown settles down fast and realizes that if he dont forget about missy and get his mind on the boat and crew, he will be removed and shunned, and I mean shunned bad.
Your career is over in subs if you delay a mission over a skirt.
Take your misogyny to another site.
I had thought about that. LoL
I agree and that’s why I do not tell my friends about FR. I do not want to have anyone think I am like a lot of the posters on this site. Sad.
Well, I would actually like to go back to the topic, parenthesis and all.
Women now serve on surface ships in all capacities, don’t they?
How long have they done so? How is that working out? I have read several comments in the past about how getting pregnant on deployment hurt a ship’s capability by forcing the sailor off the ship.
So no bashing needed, what is the truth under all the smoke of preconceived ideas and personal inclinations? Would including women on submarines be detrimental to their deployment? If a female becomes pregnant is it simply a matter of proper prenatal care? Is it something where the submarine has to depart it’s mission to offload the pregnant sailor?
These aren’t sexist questions. They are a matter of the ship’s safety.
I’m not a sailor, but I think people who are in the Navy, have been in the Navy, even people now or in the recent past been submariners could shed light on this.
The military isn’t a laboratory for social experimentation. It is a service to use force against an enemy to protect the nation. If it isn’t a problem, then why not. If it is a problem, then it is a problem.
As for the guy’s role. Everyone understands basic biology, men’s sexual drive, and how babies are made. No on is forgetting it. But the submarine doesn’t have to surface and end it’s mission for the man’s part of the participation.
Misogyny only works if the target is a real woman.....
If that pisses you off you will never make it on a submarine.
And I say that with respect.
You total disrespect for women in general is sickening.
Pretty pathetic IC.
Pretty pathetic IC.
This guy then went on a murder spree, killing innocents all over the city..
This thread is the perfect illustration of what is to come if these idiots do this.
FR is bound to be polite. Nothing is sacred on the boat except the mission.
I was a guard in a men's prison. I expect nasty comments from the slime there, but the people here are supposed to be of a better class of citizen than that which I guarded.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.