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: |
This is an extremely Bad idea.
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.
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.
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.
.
PCism run amok.
“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.
Reality vs. PCism.
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.
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)
Boomers have been full of women....
That is the funniest thing Ive ever read.
OMG, still rolling...
Only for an all female crew.
After 3 weeks on a sub they will all be 10’s.
Chicken of the Sea.
We hide with pride.
We've lost our way, Amerika.
What a great movie that is...
(Do subs even *do* 6 month cruises?)
“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
It is beneath the dignity of the office of Navy Secretary to appear on Comedy Central, much less Daly’s show.
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.
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