Woman + Subs

[Rocketman]

2 NCSU NROTC Women Picked For Subs

It's interesting to finally be able to put names and faces on this debate.

Both women graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State U. Looks like one of them may be prior service.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/05/13/1432333/2-ncsu-women-picked-to-serve-on.html

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

There's a female at OCS that is designated sub-nuke. She just needs to get out of there.

 

[et1nuke]

First female Submariners qualified.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/...st-female-submarine-officers-pinned-kings-bay

 

[Renegade One]

Might as well go "all stop" on the pushback. Just like in TACAIR...it's gonna happen, or is happening. Bottom line: Once the blush is off the rose, no one gives a shit. In ten years, people will go "Huh? What's the big deal?"

Of course, in the interim we'll have to weather through (and read about) every woman who becomes the "first" to do everything...earning dolphins, diving officer, OOD U/W, (much else I don't know about sub quals)... you get the idea. Like none of that has ever been done before by a carbon-based life form...

 

[MasterBates]

I just hope they learned from Hultgreen, and don't push people who normally wouldn't qualify.. A lot more people on Subs.. And no ejection seat.

 

[BusyBee604]

I just hope they learned from Hultgreen, and don't push people who normally wouldn't qualify. A lot more people on Subs.. And no ejection seat.

As an ex-"Bubblehead", I agree most profusely. If not held to strict submarine qualification standards, one crewperson's critical mistake can cost not only his/her own life, but the lives of the entire crew. To continue an outstanding century-long record of sub safety, established qual standards must be strictly adhered to regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientaton or gender.

Sub safety aims to have...total surfaces = total dives!

BzB

 

[Renegade One]

Sub safety aims to have...total surfaces = total dives!

BzB

How's that been working out? Although I do admit to the fact that there are more airplanes in the ocean than subs in the sky...

 

[Spekkio]

This will continue to be a big deal everytime a green Officer shows up and gets her own stateroom on day 1 or new E-3 gets her own rack and forces an E-5 or E-6 back to hot racking. The mere presence of women on soon to be VA and LA class subs is going to adversely affect every crewmember's QOL. This will be true until they build a sub that has enough racks for the whole crew. Nobody really cares about the woman part so much as they care about wanting the perks that normally come after paying one's dues.

Although I am grabbing my popcorn and eagerly awaiting the sitrep of sexism and possibly sexual assault allegations in response to some of A gang's more... um, traditional, methods of ensuring the rigorous qualification standards BZB talks about are upheld.

 

[BusyBee604]

How's that been working out? Although I do admit to the fact that there are more airplanes in the ocean than subs in the sky...

If you mean total surfaces = total dives, it worked out fine for my Shipmates & I. We didn't keep a personal log of dives/surfaces, like aviators log landings, but if we had, ours would have been equal. If they hadn't, we'd be in a steel coffin!

*Das BzB's Boot - Thames River (CT) - 1956
BzB

 

[BusyBee604]

Although I am grabbing my popcorn and eagerly awaiting the sitrep of sexism and possibly sexual assault allegations in response to some of A gang's more... um, traditional, methods of ensuring the rigorous qualification standards BZB talks about are upheld.

Umm..er, referring to a potential "Thousand Feet Deep Club"?
BzB

 

[MIDNJAC]

I ended up meeting one of the female firsts the other day on a comair flight coming back from the mothership at St Louis. She was in United FO gear, and we started talking about flying (after she had asked what brought me out to STL). Turns out she was one of the first women to transition to combat aircraft after the lift of the restrictions in ? 93. Asked how long she had been in the ANG, and she said 35 years. At that point, not really knowing how ANG career timing works, I assumed she was probably pretty senior. Chatted a bit about her career (5k+ hrs primarily in the Herc, and 10k+ in 727/757/767) which then transitioned to her talking about mil career politics and leadership stuff, as well as some interesting JO advice. Real interesting lady, and real down to earth.....fed me a bag of macadamia nuts no less. Googled her after the flight, thinking maybe she was full of BS, and sure enough she is a BGEN in command of the ANG in an entire state. Maybe this is sexist, or wrong, or whatever, but she really changed my opinion of senior female officers. It was very apparent that she got to her position by being awesome by any standard, and not for any other reason. So somewhat unrelated sidebar over, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that I hope these ladies get a fair shake at it and prove the doubters wrong.

 

[Spekkio]

Most people recognize that women are more than capable of doing any job on a submarine. The gripe fest stems from the logistics of serving on one with them and the fact that the already small stowage space people get is about to get smaller to accomodate a PC mission to put women on subs.

 

[CommodoreMid]

I think that's why they're starting with the boomers and attempting to assign what looks like a quorum to each boat so racks, etc, aren't as big of an issue.

 

[Brett327]

I think that's why they're starting with the boomers and attempting to assign what looks like a quorum to each boat so racks, etc, aren't as big of an issue.

This is how the "logistics" issue was handled on USS Boat. Critical mass is necessary to make for a chick stateroom or chick berthing. I know subs are even more concentrated, but those issues will be overcome in time. Growing pains are inevitable, but people will figure it out.

CM, you would have shit your britches if you had seen how my P-3 squadron freaked out in '93 when we got our first few female Pilots and NFOs. They thought the enlisted aircrew were going to peek through the cracks in the soundproofing around the head, so they decided to have the PRs install Naugahyde all around the head. Ridiculous in retrospect, but that gives you an idea of how weirded out people were. You can imagine the eye rolling that went on. The implication was that we were all animals who had never seen the female form. Never mind that we had had female maintainers for decades.

 

[KBayDog]

Speaking of subs, Jersey Mike's in Pace just closed.

Bummer.