Operaton Petticot
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: |
Operaton Petticot
Oh yeah, I know of which you speak. I musta pissed the COB off something fierce one ‘Pac, cause he put me in Rack 21, 21-man, which is right next to the hatch for Dry Stores and my head was up against the bulkhead for the Laundry Space. Fortunately, the guy across the aisle from me was a very large M-Div’er who had no problems punching dumbass cooks in the head who couldn’t keep the noise down when retreiving a can of flour.
Even Helen Thomas???????????
A SAILOR CAN f UP ANYTHING GIVEN TIME.
I was thinking 9 months for some reason, but what do I know? ;-)
Does the Navy ordinarily promote that quickly...or is it just "the Silent Service"?
...and never crawled in the mud.
Apart from BCT,neither did I.One of the many advantages of being in command of a typewriter and some filing cabinets. ;-)
Ernest Borgnine Rules! Or was he in the TV show they made after the movie? Tim Conway, too? ;)
Bring back Submarine Races...
Adds a new dimension to the term "hot racking", too.
I would bet that it would be a sight to have the women that are aboard to do the dance made famous by Sub crews.
PC over practicality, discipline, efficiency, tradition, etc.
Believe me the crew will deteriorate long before that.
As other have noted, they will require special treatment and that means taking the rest of the crews resources.
That makes for an unhappy crew.
Yeah, the Babes get their own berthing an heads and an equal amount of guys get to sleep ontop of torpedoes and lose a shower and part the head?
Nope. I cant see it happening.
Who would get to snake the feminine hygeine products out of San 2?
Now my info is a few years old so the numbers might be outdated. This is how it worked when I went through in the late 80s early 90s. Everyone in the ‘nuclear pipeline’ is an E-4 before they enter Naval Nuclear Power School. Usually, the Navy gets Nucs by finding college kids that have drunk all their money away, offers them a few thousand dollars to enlist and E-4 out of A school. They sign up for six years because nuc training is almost 2 years. Then they give them another $10-15K for reenlisting at their 2 year point, when most haven’t been on deployment. Now the Navy owns you for eight years. After eight years most are disgruntled and turn down the next reenlistment bonus even though when I got out it was between $30 - 45K for an additional two years.
I have a suggestion. and the gals aint gonna like it.
You got that right! LOL.
Back in the old days ..... I entered E3, E4 after A school, E5 after Nuke school and E6 in 4 1/2.
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