I k ow a good guy I work with who was in the navy and said his ship was 60% woman. He hated it and got out.
I am a former infantryman and I weep when I think what our fighting force has become. It’s a PC nightmare and I will not recommend it to anyone at this stage.
It would be difficult and I don't see how it's working actually. I don't think it really is as some critical operations would have to be modified {meaning operational times increased}. Fire Bell, General Quarters, and Man Overboard, when I was in often resulted in men running out of showers if after working hours and going to their assigned stations. Some berthing areas are also main passageways all must use in certain parts of many ships including carriers.
Fire bell meant only Fire Dept responded but they would be dressing while running to the fire if after work hours and Taps. I know because I did it. Seconds count in fire response.
General Quarters means go to battle stations and you had tops less than 5 minutes on a carrier for all 5000 persons to do that. If after hours that also meant dressing while running to your GQ Station. After that time Zebra was to be set meaning a closing of all hatches and scuttles and it had to be done ASAP for damage control. Once closed it was to stay closed unless permission to open the hatch for any reason was given by the ships Damage Control Assistant.
Man Overboard Whistle was a no exception in person verified sighting muster in your work center. If you were in the shower you wrapped with a towel or if in the rack in your Fruit of The Looms and went to the person on watch or your work center supervisor a senior NCO for a visual muster. It was highly important to find out ASAP who was over the side in the water or if it was a mistake. Lives were at risk including the man overboard teams responding. It told the man overboard team from what side of the ship a person fell from, what place, and very important what color of uniform they had on and any water survival gear. Seconds mattered.
Now can any reasonable person explain to me how these critical operations response times were not increased due to coed ships? A ship is a war machine. It's needs and it's mission must come first. It is not a suitable place for social engineering nor adding tensions as there is plenty enough stress without involving the interactions of men and women. I do not believe in coed combat ships. The ships military mission must take priority. I've seen men come to fist with each other at about the third month of a six month deployment due to deployment fatigue and the long hours.
Like you until some sanity is restored and all of the social engineering in all aspects is ended I can not in good conscience encourage anyone to enlist. BTW don't ask don't tell didn't work either with gays nor would coed ships with heterosexuals. I would not want my daughters or grand daughters serving on a Navy combat ship in any capacity.
Here are some comments on women in the combat arms from my niece’s boyfriend, who 3 years ago was a Marine lugging a 240 around some of the finer neighborhoods of Afghanistan.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3415429/posts?page=24#24
He illustrates with real world examples plenty of practical reasons why it’s a bad idea in just a few paragraphs.