Posted on 09/24/2009 4:37:19 PM PDT by sonofstrangelove
Women should be allowed to serve aboard America's fleet of nuclear submarines, the nation's top military officer, Adm. Michael Mullen, quietly has told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
If the Navy agrees to it, this would be a huge policy change and potentially a significant expansion of career opportunities for female officers and sailors.
Women have been barred by Navy policy from submarines, even as the sea service began 15 years ago to integrate females into other seagoing combat roles including aboard surface warships and in fighter jets.
Mullen, former chief of naval operations and a career surface warfare officer, made his position on submarines known in written responses to questions from the committee to prepare for Mullen's confirmation hearing to serve a second two-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
"As an advocate for improving the diversity of our force, I believe we should continue to broaden opportunities for women. One policy I would like to see changed is the one barring their service aboard submarines," Mullen told senators.
Opponents of lifting the ban have argued for decades that space is at a premium on submarines. To accommodate privacy needs of females, including separate berthing and "heads" or toilet/shower facilities, would be "prohibitively expensive," Navy has argued. Watch duty, bunk management, extra supplies and incidents of fraternization and harassment would complicate submarine life, according to one study done for the Navy in 1994.
No senator actually raised the female submariner issue with Mullen during his Sept. 15 confirmation hearing. The focus was Afghanistan and Iraq. And Navy officials had no immediate comment on Mullen's position.
(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...
Good Lord....
That was my response
They really should cut this crap out. More social engineering in the military.
I’m at a loss for words.
Oh what the heck, let’s give the guys booze too. What an idiotic idea. Can you image the disruptions a woman on a sub full of 19 and 20 something guys would cause. There would be fights, and moral would plummet. Just another seditious ploy to weaken our military. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Do we have a shortage of men that are volunteering for submarine duty? I’m sure glad my submarining days are over! (USS Scamp SSN-588)
I'm sure that if Senator Kennedy were still alive he would co-sponsor that bill with Senator Dodd. At least until they found out that the plan would be for women to serve aboard submarines, not to serve them as the filling in submarine sandwiches.
Absolutely not! The biggest morale bummer ever.
I normally keep Navair pings strictly for things Naval Aviation, but this once I thought this might be of interest.
Click on pic for past Navair pings.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
The only requirement for inclusion in the Navair Pinglist is an interest in Naval Aviation.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.
That's one happy ship! Of course you'd have about 10,000 men volunteering for each woman.
the Mile LOW Club??? 
A formerly little-used and innocuous word given might by the left wing hijackers of the English language.
What could possibly go wrong?
Well, they will need to add a tailor to the ship’s company. Six months at sea, will invariably result in some needed adjustments to the waistlines of some female crew uniforms.
Unless, of course, that said female crewmembers are required to muster every morning with the Pharmicist’s Mate for administration of daily birth control.
Just saying that the sex lamp is never lit while underway will probably not work - even the chief of the boat has some human limitations.
Since the subs are away for a long time, will there be room for maternity wards?
Isn’t there a lot of seaman on subs? And you don’t have waves under the ocean....
"Under age 18 the law protects them, after age 65 nature protects them. In between they're fair game."
Forgot the /s.
I was a training NCO for a National Guard FA firing battery. No women. I went to a school one time and a guy from Missouri who had a similar job to mine but with an MP company told me that the two biggest problems he had in his unit, I didn’t have either one: women and, errr, “minorities”. Well, he didn’t exactly say “minorities” but you can use your imagination.
Morale gear.
Note: Hot racking is the practice of having 3 sailors share two bunks (racks). It works because one of the 3 is always on duty. It is necessary (at least on older boats) because there are more crew than bunks.
Women should NOT be on subs as they are usually full of seamen
They already do Navair. Subs are more than a little different.
Forty years ago, Teddy served briefly in an undersea command off the coast of Martha's Vinyard.
Oh Hell, why not just hire a dozen prostitutes and put them in special quarters on a sub. That would satisfy everyone but NOW.
We all serve on a ladies’ submarine,
Ladies’ submarine,
Ladies’ submarine
Subs are a tough nut. Morale is very important. I honestly don’t think I’d want to see the male/female dynamic at work in these subs.
Of course career opportunities are every so much more important than military preparedness and national security, so we can look for this in days...
I agree
No it's not.
Why dont we go to unmanned Subs and staff them with Bunny Rabbits? After each Sub Mission we could feed all of China with the bumper crop of Bunnys coming off the Sub prior to the arrival of the next crew? This idea is Bonkers!
{{{PING}}}
Make a hole! Make it wide! The casserole is done!
I wonder how that would work? They can barely stuff the food on board for those long trips... how are they going to find space for women washrooms, and sleeping quarters? Some of the beds allow only inches, where boobs won’t fit.
Well, we have love boats on the sea might as well have them underwater.
Pathetic.
They even have naval uniforms for pregnant sailors.
Periscope UP!
Fire torpedo Tube One. "Ohhh!"
"She's going down!"
I wonder what Admiral Rickover would've thought of this...?
Cheers!
I can think of some female candidates who qualify in that respect.
Yes, way too close and cramped for that to work out well. The sub is likely to come back from a cruise with more people than it launched with.
I could see a ladies’ submarine, but not coed.
Contour bunks.
Oh you’re on a roll...
Not me, NOT ME!!!!
Cheers!
LOLOL!!! Imagine the jokes....
Morale, too.
and dont forget morals.....
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.