I completely disagree with the idea that it is a non-issue, not sure if you were a fast attack guy or what, but it IS a big issue for those on boomers. This is of course if we still follow our own guidance on women not being allowed to work in a radiation area. I understand this is a Navy standard, not a national standard, so it will probably change, but right now it does matter.
Again, it's a fairly non-issue because they can finish the patrol if it's really that bad of a national security issue. On boomers you can shift the ridiculously high section officer watchbill to make her stand watch in the fwd compartment. Pregnant women are allowed to take radiation from Naval nuclear power. Just don't make them do primary sample or CDDP strainer monitors. Then barring a reactor accident that would kill everyone anyway, she won't exceed her pregnancy limit.
I don't care who we recruit/promote/retain, as long as they meet or exceed the standards we have set to ensure combat effectiveness.
Maybe this is a function of arcane policies rather than females serving onboard Navy ships, but what happens when we lose otherwise good leaders who couldn't resist mother nature? What about the hit to crew morale when some become jealous of a female's clique, or they perceive she is receiving better treatment for flirting with a superior? What about the hit to morale when someone who paid his dues has to give up his space to a nub?
What about the simple fact that women decide to continue their Naval careers at a rate far less than men, meaning that we would have to have something like 2-3x more female DIVOs, for which there are no billets, in order to make the same amount of DH. If you don't increase DIVO numbers to account, you take a hit to DH manning and your talent pool in the spots that matter more than DIVO spots goes through the floor because now you're selecting anyone with a pulse (and almost exclusively men, anyway, defeating your diversity initiative) due to high attrition. If you increase the numbers, who gets to put a made up job on their one O-3 fitrep before shore duty?
It's possible that the first submarine female CO could be a golden child because she outlasted everyone ala Capt Graff. It's possible that she could be the next VADM Ramage. But the fact that the possibility of the former even exists is frightening, and I don't think anyone could argue that Capt Graff increased combat effectiveness on her ship.
Do these not impact combat effectiveness in a negative way? If so, is that impact really offset by what we think is a more competitive, better talent pool of men and women, or do we just assume it is?
I heard from a buddy that women aren't allowed to serve onboard frigates for space considerations. If that is true, what makes a submarine a more suitable environment?
This question is not as simple as saying 50% of the smartest/most motivated/whatever X people are females, so allowing them to serve on submarines is more better for combat effectiveness.
