Re-scheduling The Quarterly PM
I noticed that it's been three months since I posted on that always popular topic, "Women on Submarines". Even though there's an article that just came out in the new Navy Times about the MCPON seeming to support the concept, my heart really isn't in it tonight, so I'll throw you over to Rontini's BBS, where the discussion's going on hot and heavy. Here's part of the article; the rest is in the Rontini post linked above:
"The Navy's top enlisted sailor thinks the time may be right for women to join the silent service.
"I am not opposed to women serving on submarines," Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (SS/AW) Terry Scott said in a 90-minute Feb. 1 interview with re-porters and editors of Navy Times. "I think it could work."
"A former submariner and chief of a fast attack boat, Scott said he believes Navy culture - not a lack of funding or logistical constraints - is the only fundamental hurdle to the idea...
"...A career submariner, Scott rose from the ranks as a missile technician onboard a ballistic missile submarine to become the chief of the boat on an attack submarine. He has experienced life onboard submarines firsthand and says there's a place for women there, too. His contention comes not just from a sailor's perspective. It's driven, in part, by being the father of two very capable daughters.
"I have a daughter who told me when she was 8 years old that she wanted to ride submarines," Scott said.
"He recounted the conversation that came up after his daughter experienced a dependents' cruise with her father. "I said, you never know what's going to happen, honey," he told her. "She's 21 years old now, and still wants to."
"That's just one of the factors that shaped his current view on a long-sensitive subject in the silent service.Scott said the biggest obstacle to getting women into subs isn't the age-old, and understandable, difficulties in modifying heads and berthing areas. Instead, supporters of the idea must overcome cultural fears and concerns.
"But Scott said good leadership can solve those issues."I think it could work," he said. "I think leadership can solve many of what are considered some of our most difficult problems." Scott said he knows of no formal plans or policies to change the current exclusions, but his position on the matter was clear: "I would support a change," he said."
Of course, he is a Missile Tech...
posted by Bubblehead at 11:03 PM
3 Comments:
why would a boomer sailor want women on submarines anyway? ;)
2/06/2006 11:24 PM
The current MCPON is nothing more than a poltical tool anyway so what do you expect?
Watch him on AFN urging Sailors to solve all their problems by going to a web site......
Plus the little jerk has CMC's wearing their shields where only commanding officers should. Who came up with that idea? CMC's should have the big shields down on the pocket the way they used to be, and E-9's should be able to back and forth from production jobs to SEAS instead of creating the horde of "perfumed princes" we have now. A pox on MCPON and all who think like him!
2/08/2006 6:54 AM
A Boomer Sailor would want women on submarines for the same reasons a Fast Attack Sailor would. Greater pool of Submariners = more flexibility in booting idiots to the surface. Not top mention the potentially beneficial atmospheric effects.
By the way, what do women need onboard a sub that isn't already there. We have toilets, and we have showers. Women poop, and women can stand up while they wash themselves.
If women are to be on submarines, the way to do it is to integrate them directly into the crew like any other submariner. This will minimize the issues and retain the crew dynamic.
The fact is, the American public is extremely uncomfortable with the idea of women and men working in such close quarters and redesigning the submarine to accomodate their superstitions would be not only dangerous, but it would also destroy the crew dynamic and create a complete new set of issues while solving none(except in the fantasy enthralled public's mind).
Now the other fact is that the major group(muscle as it were) outright opposing women on submarines are submarine wives. Curiously no husbands of Sailors have weighed in. Submariners themselves are mixed, the majority would heartily approve of women on subs as this would increase the pool of submariners and enable them to 'kick out' less fit members.
7/11/2007 7:25 AM
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