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Women 'Soon' Will Serve on Submarines, Navy Secretary Says
American Forces Press Service ^ | John J. Kruzel

Posted on 10/07/2009 5:15:32 PM PDT by SandRat

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2009 – Navy Secretary Ray Mabus yesterday said women soon will serve on submarines, suggesting a reversal of the long-standing ban by the Navy.

Appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Mabus signaled that the Navy is moving closer to allowing coed personnel on submarines.

“It will take a little while because you’ve got to interview people and you’ve got to be nuclear trained,” he said, referring to prerequisite steps before a sailor is assigned to a submarine.

Officials previously have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles to allowing female crewmembers to serve aboard the vessels.

But Mabus is one of several top Navy officials recently to call for an end to the policy. The Navy secretary’s comments yesterday amplify his previous endorsement of ending the ban.

“This is something the [chief of naval operations] and I have been working on since I came into office,” Mabus, who was confirmed as Navy secretary in May, said last week. “We are moving out aggressively on this.

“I believe women should have every opportunity to serve at sea, and that includes aboard submarines,” he told reporters following a tour of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard.

Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, acknowledged that special accommodations would be a factor in the decision, but one that’s not insurmountable.
“Having commanded a mixed-gender surface combatant, I am very comfortable addressing integrating women into the submarine force,” he said in a statement last month. “I am familiar with the issues as well as the value of diverse crews.”

Roughead said he has been personally engaged through the years in the Navy’s debate of the feasibility of assigning women to submarines.

“There are some particular issues with integrating women into the submarine force -- issues we must work through in order to achieve what is best for the Navy and our submarine force,” he said. “This has had and will continue to have my personal attention as we work toward increasing the diversity of our Navy afloat and ashore."

Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed the issue with the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.

“I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women,” Mullen is quoted as saying in response to written questions posed by the Senate Armed Services Committee. “One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring their service aboard submarines.”

Mullen, a champion of diversifying the services, said this month that having a military that reflects the demographics of the United States is “a strategic imperative for the security of our country.”

Biographies:
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen
Ray Mabus
Navy Adm. Gary Roughead

Related Articles:
Navy Officials Push for Allowing Women on Submarines



TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: jointchiefs; militarywomen; mullen; submarines; usnavy; women
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To: SandRat

This is an extremely Bad idea.


21 posted on 10/07/2009 5:33:54 PM PDT by glymers
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To: SandRat

Women ‘Soon’ Will Service on Submarines, Flowerplough Says.

Me brudder, on a LST and a destroyer tender in the 80s, saw his ship/shore rotation go from 3 years/3 years to 5 years/1 year because the Navy’s machine shop women at sea often got pregnant as quickly as possible to get mandated a shore berth.


22 posted on 10/07/2009 5:35:58 PM PDT by flowerplough ( Pennsylvania today - New New Jersey meets North West Virginia.)
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To: Names Ash Housewares

I spent 5 and a half yrs of my life assigned to boats.

There is nothing more disasterous and it confirms my previous stance. Our current flag officers are self-serving ass****s.

Anyone care to guess how much the “women on combat ships” fiasco has cost us in op tempo, money, and morale?

I’m glad I’m out and never thought I’d say it, but I will never, EVER recommend that service to a young person again.

Men and women are not equals and never will be, regardless of how many B*’s the SecNav may be getting under his desk.


23 posted on 10/07/2009 5:36:04 PM PDT by SubmarineNuke (To the Sea I shall return)
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To: SandRat
I'm ready to give this a chance.

I would like it if the Navy put women on just one or two subs as a "shake down" to double check the thesis that it's workable.

Just this Navy Dad's opinion.

.

24 posted on 10/07/2009 5:36:11 PM PDT by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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To: glymers

PCism run amok.


25 posted on 10/07/2009 5:36:17 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: SandRat

“Officials previously have cited a lack of privacy and the cost of reconfiguring subs as obstacles to allowing female crewmembers to serve aboard the vessels.”

If i recall correctly, they needed to make toilet and bed accommodations for females. Since space on a sub is limited, they were discussing decreasing capacity of weapons systems to accommodate the woman’s facilities.


26 posted on 10/07/2009 5:37:03 PM PDT by HEM
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To: flowerplough

Reality vs. PCism.


27 posted on 10/07/2009 5:37:13 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: SandRat

My son in law had contemplated serving out his term and ending his career, but because of bambi and all the stupid rules, decided America needs real military men now more than ever and just signed up for another term. God Bless our military, all branches. We need them now more than ever. He’s going to Afghanistan in January.


28 posted on 10/07/2009 5:37:42 PM PDT by Indy Pendance (Live Free Or Die)
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To: SandRat

29 posted on 10/07/2009 5:37:43 PM PDT by NativeNewYorker (Freepin' Jew Boy)
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To: SandRat

There was a time when every decision of the military would be solved by the question “Does it make us a better fighting force?”

Obviously that question is no longer asked.

I put up this scenerio before: put ten women on a 688. Since I am sure they can’t hot rack you have to put them in lower level berthing which I think has 15 racks. So now 45 more qualified men have to hot rack just so that the petticoat Navy can pat itself on the back. Thats almost half the enlisted on board. The beatings will continue until moral improves.

Former MM1(SS)


30 posted on 10/07/2009 5:37:46 PM PDT by Pan_Yan (All gray areas are fabrications.)
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To: Doohickey

Boomers have been full of women....

That is the funniest thing Ive ever read.

OMG, still rolling...


31 posted on 10/07/2009 5:37:56 PM PDT by SubmarineNuke (To the Sea I shall return)
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To: Seaplaner

Only for an all female crew.


32 posted on 10/07/2009 5:38:01 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country! What else needs said?)
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To: Broker

After 3 weeks on a sub they will all be 10’s.


33 posted on 10/07/2009 5:40:09 PM PDT by screaminsunshine (!!)
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To: Doohickey
Besides, boomers have always been full of women.

Chicken of the Sea.
We hide with pride.

34 posted on 10/07/2009 5:40:47 PM PDT by Pan_Yan (All gray areas are fabrications.)
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To: SandRat
Next will be co-ed maximum secrurity prisons, where the inmates can pay their debts to society, without the bother of lack of consortium.

We've lost our way, Amerika.

35 posted on 10/07/2009 5:41:23 PM PDT by traditional1 ("Don't gots to worry 'bout no mo'gage, don't gots to buy no gas...Obama gonna take care o' me!")
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To: SmokingJoe

What a great movie that is...


36 posted on 10/07/2009 5:41:47 PM PDT by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG 49) "Freedom's Fortress")
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To: SandRat
Yup,that's the ticket.Three quarters of the women are pregnant 2 months into a six month cruise.

(Do subs even *do* 6 month cruises?)

37 posted on 10/07/2009 5:42:30 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Christian+Veteran=Terrorist)
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To: SandRat

“It will take a little while because you’ve got to interview people and you’ve got to be nuclear trained,”

and you have to retrofit cramped billion dollar subs with heads and sleeping quarters and you have to dumb down the strength requirements and you have to deal with the jealousy and pregnancy problems on board and the jealousy from wives at home.

But other than that, it will be as easy as relocating Guantanamo


38 posted on 10/07/2009 5:43:13 PM PDT by FastCoyote (I am intolerant of the intolerable.)
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To: SandRat

It is beneath the dignity of the office of Navy Secretary to appear on Comedy Central, much less Daly’s show.


39 posted on 10/07/2009 5:43:15 PM PDT by FlyingEagle
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To: screaminsunshine

You guys are so funny! We were trying to remember all the military slogans, ‘be all you can be’, ‘the few, the proud’, but couldn’t remember the navy slogan and came up with ‘lost at sea’. Caveat: My dad was WWII Navy.


40 posted on 10/07/2009 5:43:49 PM PDT by Indy Pendance (Live Free Or Die)
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