Navy prepares submarines for 1st female officers

nctimes.com ^ | 29 July 2011 | Michael Melia

[smokingfrog]

HARTFORD, Conn. ---- For Ensign Peggy LeGrand, the biggest concern about serving on a submarine is not spending weeks at a time in tight quarters with an entirely male crew. What worries her is the scrutiny that comes with breaking one of the last gender barriers in the U.S. military.

"I have a feeling more people will be focused on us. Our mistakes and successes will be magnified more than they deserve," said LeGrand, 25, a Naval Academy graduate from Amarillo, Texas.

LeGrand is among a small group of female officers who are training at sites including Groton, Conn., to join the elite submarine force beginning later this year. While the Navy says it is not treating them any differently from their male counterparts, officials have been working to prepare the submarine crews ---- and the sailors' wives ---- for one of the most dramatic changes in the 111-year history of the Navy's "silent service."

The initial class of 24 women will be divided among four submarines, where they will be outnumbered by men by a ratio of roughly 25 to 1. The enlisted ranks, which make up about 90 percent of a sub's 160-sailor crew, are not open to women ---- although the Navy is exploring modifications to create separate bunks for men and women.

The female officers, many of them engineering graduates from Annapolis, are accustomed to being in the minority, and so far they say they hardly feel like outsiders. The nuclear power school that is part of their training, for example, has been open to women for years because the Navy in 1994 reversed a ban on females serving on its surface ships, including nuclear-powered vessels.

[dennisw]

What woman in her right mind wants to be in a tin can under the ocean? Plenty of guys are not temperamentally suited for it either.....

[Admin Moderator]

Please refrain from posting profanity, thanks.

[Arrowhead1952]

My brother, who served on a fast-attack nuclear submarine for 4 years, says this social engineering will be nothing short of disastrous.

My neighbor was an XO and CO of a fast attack nuke too, and when he explained how small the living quarters are, I thought "No way is this a good idea".

[boomop1]

OK

[jjm2111]

>>>>”I know some women officers who do a good job and deserve everything they achieve.”

I’ve been comissioned for 13 years, mostly as a reservist, but with two mobilizations since 9/11. In my experience, I have never met a female officer (or senior noncom) who was competent at command. I have encountered female officers who are competent specialists, like JAGs, Intel, PAOs, Doctors, etc., but not one who was a good leader in the traditional military sense.

It’s the second-guessing, the lack of deciseveness, or women’s emotional stuff that clouds their judgement and, in my experience, makes them poor commanders. And that’s in the people who appear to me to be fundamentally decent human beings.

I’ve personally worked for an XO who had Holly Graf tendencies. A CO I worked for would vacation on the government dime while pretending to visit teams in the field. Both were clueless on mission basics.

[Vermont Lt]

Been a while since you were a young, hormone driven, 20 something.

If the opportunity arose, I would be able to find a nice, obscure spot for a little recreation. And given ten minutes, there are probably dozens that could be found on a sub.

[ctdonath2]

“Every human culture is based on ‘Women and children first’ – and any attempt to do it any other way leads quickly to extinction.”
- R.A.Heinlein

[ArrogantBustard]

If the attitude she brings to the boat is even a tithe of the attitude represented in your cartoon, she has no place in any military organization, in any capacity whatsoever. She is psychologically unfit. Furthermore, I would not hire such a person in a civilian workplace, nor would I marry her.

Attitudes, decisions and actions have consequences.

[SkyDancer]

Oh for pete’s sake - it was satire.

[Tatze]

49 posts and not a single 'Down Periscope' reference?? You all are slipping!

Lt. Cmdr Dodge: Men, at ease. I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our crew, Lt. Emily Lake. Emily is part of a pilot program to test the feasibility of women serving on submarines. She's going to be our diving officer.
Stepanek: Can she do a one-and-a-half inward back in the layout position?
[laughter]
Lt. Cmdr Dodge: All right, look, gentlemen! I know this is an unusual situation. Can't be easy for Lt. Lake here to be thrown into a jungle such as this, and I know it will make things hard on all of us...
[laughter]
Lt. Cmdr Dodge: Let me re-phrase that. It's going to make things *difficult* on all of us as well. But if we just work together as a team, I'm sure we can handle ourselves...
[laughter]
Lt. Cmdr Dodge: *Comport* ourselves as professionals. That is all.

[DungeonMaster]

I’ve heard from a son who is in the Navy that a certain Aircraft carrier is as racially divided as a prison and that there is a prostitution ring on board.

[smokingfrog]

Warning - NSFW

http://tiny.cc/6xxle