Amberly Vale
(?)Community Member
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- Posted: Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:48:32 +0000
So a year ago my boat got three of the first female submariners. There were mixed feelings, and one of the questions asked was "how can a woman don an SCBA and push through a watertight door into a huge fire?
One chief thought it was funny that the guy asking the question was five feet tall and a meager 120 pounds. If you can pass bootcamp, you can do whatever job you physically qualify for. There's a few guys really riding the line on being a fatass and a few guys who barely pass the pushups requirement who still do the same jobs as the guys in peak physical shape.
The three woman who showed up were all officers, two butterbar ensigns and a previously qualified surface fleet officer. All three are more than capable of being submariners, and all three have since qualified submarine warfare and earned their fish (well, one's kinda dumb... but that's not cuz she's a she, it's cuz she's dumb. There are dumb guys too.) They've integrated themselves into the crew and lo and behold, they're human too. Hell, they even make as many dirty jokes as the rest of us
I never got a straight answer on a real reason why women are only now in the sub fleet. I've seen zero problems, even when there' a physical requirement, like carrying a huge piece of equipment up several ladders with one hand. It's a huge pain in the a**. The one reason I've heard is it's considered a "hazardous duty" like being in a combat environment. I didn't buy it. I don't see how it makes a difference to what plumbing you're wearing. The training is the same, the pay is the same, the expectations are the same.
Bottom line, the real thing keeping woman from being in the military is the dotted line in the recruiter's office.
One chief thought it was funny that the guy asking the question was five feet tall and a meager 120 pounds. If you can pass bootcamp, you can do whatever job you physically qualify for. There's a few guys really riding the line on being a fatass and a few guys who barely pass the pushups requirement who still do the same jobs as the guys in peak physical shape.
The three woman who showed up were all officers, two butterbar ensigns and a previously qualified surface fleet officer. All three are more than capable of being submariners, and all three have since qualified submarine warfare and earned their fish (well, one's kinda dumb... but that's not cuz she's a she, it's cuz she's dumb. There are dumb guys too.) They've integrated themselves into the crew and lo and behold, they're human too. Hell, they even make as many dirty jokes as the rest of us
I never got a straight answer on a real reason why women are only now in the sub fleet. I've seen zero problems, even when there' a physical requirement, like carrying a huge piece of equipment up several ladders with one hand. It's a huge pain in the a**. The one reason I've heard is it's considered a "hazardous duty" like being in a combat environment. I didn't buy it. I don't see how it makes a difference to what plumbing you're wearing. The training is the same, the pay is the same, the expectations are the same.
Bottom line, the real thing keeping woman from being in the military is the dotted line in the recruiter's office.