Thirty
Years Ago: Ensign Roberta McIntyre, the first female to qualify as a surface
weapons officer, checking the main gauge board in the propulsion plant of the
submarine tender USS Dixon, where she served as electrical officer.
The Navy
has announced that women officers will start to be assigned to Virginia-class
attack submarines as soon as next year. And that enlisted women would likely
follow.
It also
is assigning women to five more crews of the larger Trident-class submarines
starting January 2013. There are currently 24 women assigned to submarines as
of August 30. There are another 24 female officers in the submarine training
pipeline, with 18 more waiting to enter after them.
The
primary reason for this expansion is the lack of opportunity for advancement
and increased responsibility. Naval leaders found in the early 1980s that
restricting women to a limited type of ship (tenders, repair ships, and a
training carrier) virtually prohibited them from serving in increasingly
responsible billets up the chain of command that would eventually lead to
command at sea.
Many
female surface warfare officers left the Navy in the mid-1980s because there was
no career path. By 1987 the “Combat Logistic Force” ships (ships that provided
food, fuel and ammunition via underway replenishment) opened, and in 1994 women
were being assigned to surface combatants. The Navy does not want to repeat the
mistake of spending thousands of dollars in training prospective submarine
officers, only to have them leave the submarine force for lack of submarines
for them to serve aboard.
As
then-Chief of Naval Personnel Admiral Ronald Zlatoper emphasized in May 1993,
during testimony to Congress at the hearings to open combatant surface ships to
women, changes to the assignment of women in ships is evolutionary, not
revolutionary.
He said
it is, “a logical progression after 50 years of service by Navy women…including
20 years in naval aviation and 15 years at sea.” Well, women have now been in
naval aviation for 40 years and in ships for 35 years…it is certainly time for
women to be assigned to submarines without the broo-ha-ha we are still seeing
in letters to the editor of Navy Times because of a fraternization scandal
involving a Naval Academy female midshipman and the chief of the boat — the top
enlisted sailor — aboard the USS Nebraska, a ballistic-missile submarine.
Part of
the problem is that it is a major personnel policy change, which always seems
to throw men for a loop.
Naval
tradition personified both the sea and ships as female, which provided both
comfort and tragedy. Many naval traditions and folklore sprang from the
relationship of women, the sea and ships, and women on board ships were
actually considered to be good luck. There are also historical accounts of
women leading their nations in war, on both land and sea. Nevertheless, the
U.S. Navy did not allow women as permanent members of ships’ crews until 1978, late
in the 20th century.
This
created an ethos of exclusion and male privilege that persists to this day.
I am
frankly tired of hearing the same old whiny reasons why women should not serve
on submarines: that there’s no value-added to having women aboard; it’s pushing
a social agenda to the detriment of readiness; the lack of privacy and tight
quarters guarantee some physical contact will occur [and?]; the wives won’t
like it.
One
compelling reason for allowing women to serve is a growing shortage of men
willing to do so. Four years ago, the Naval Academy produced only 92 male
officers for submarine duty, short of its 120-man requirement. Submariners must
be volunteers, and satisfy strict physical, psychological and academic
qualifications. Beyond that, more women — and fewer men — are getting technical
degrees.
The
bottom line is this: the Navy needs the women to maintain adequate personnel
levels. And as always, the needs of the Navy take precedence over any
individual point of view.
I close
with a remark made by a Navy woman nearly 20 years ago to Navy Times:
I did
not join the Navy to advance a social program, file subjective harassment
suits, get pregnant, and accidentally carry out my assigned military mission in
the process. I joined to serve my country.
