The fact is I have said multiple times I am for women in combat positions with caveats.
I have 2 DS's and 1 DD. I love all 3 of them, however, I will not sacrifice one for the other. This is how I perceive the current combat/sub situation. People are saying that the male members must sacrifice for the female members. I take the equality approach i.e. if you want to play with the boys don't ask for them to change the rules. Step up and play with the boys on their terms, no lady tee box.
At the same time the military must acknowledge that women have unique needs to their gender. The AF went through this decades ago when they allowed women in fighters. It was a bumpy road, but they did get through it. The same will be true for subs and combat. It will be difficult, but eventually it will work out and when our grandchildren enter the military they will have problems comprehending this was ever an issue.
I currently feel that the nitty gritty issues have not been addressed, instead the motivation is a true PC issue. I think that the Navy is like a parent, people are saying did you think about this what if? They are responding like a parent, that will never happen.
I highly doubt that anyone on this board will change their position. Each side will throw out questions to the opposition, but neither side will bend. I believe it is good that the thread continues for a myriad of reasons. First, lurkers will become informed of the finesse issues regarding women. Second, cadets are learning more about subs and combat here than any book could ever teach them.
Back on topic
And the junior enlisted will be crammed back even tighter to accommodate the new lucky ladies. Will the gals be forced to hot rack?
If Mongo is correct he stated it is an E6/7, which means 1 female, thus I highly doubt she will hot rack
The first contingent will be two first tour officers and an E-6/E-7 from the surface nuclear community so there will be enlisted on the boats from the get go
Gray Hog,
It slid down the slippery slope of intimacy because that would be a silly nitty gritty fact that the Navy must address. If they acknowledge sex
MAY occur, then they must accept that pregnancy
MAY happen. They need to acknowledge what the plan is for a pregnant submariner.
Additionally, throw this into the mix. Are they going to test each female submariner for pregnancy before they deploy? Take a married submariner who gets deployed, 3 weeks into the tour she realizes that she is pregnant. She can logically get an OOPS pregnancy the night before she deployed. It is not just about sex on the sub. Now they have to remove her.
Bullet back in 04 was in Kuwait being deployed forward to the Green Zone, the night before going forward, the female O3 that reported to him, came and said "I am pregnant, I can't go". They were in Kuwait, she was married and got pregnant before deployment. An O3 that had been in the green zone was required to remain until they could get another replacement. FYI, they were in Kuwait for 2 weeks due to staging. The service member she was replacing haad a family who was counting the hours until he got home, but due to her pregnancy, there were children being informed that Daddy couldn't come home yet. Pregnancy happens and in the military it has an effect on more than just your family. Her pregnancy affected many people who relied on her to be a soldier first, woman second.
We need to address the nitty gritty, I am tired of the military jumping into the fire without realizing the repercussions. When the AF said let women fly in fighters, they jumped without thinking. To this day 20 yrs later they still do not have a female flight suit. Back in the beginning they forgot to address a nitty gritty issue like pittle packs (big deal when you are flying across the pond). They also had additional issues such as reconfiguring the squadrons to create bathrooms with showers for females.
The first female selected for subs will be the equivalent of Jeannie Flynn, Nicole Malachowski (Fifi-1st T-bird), and Shannon Faulkner. They will be on the cover of Time, Newsweek, Navy Times, etc. Women will feel their success or failure. Jeannie and Nicole proved every man wrong, unfortunately Shannon proved men right. I personally know Jeannie and Fifi. The thing I admire about them is that they demanded to take the shot from the men's tee. For every girl out there they are 2 women should admire and try to emulate.