Lady Submariners

It's official: Women will serve on subs.

By Russ Bynum (AP Military Writer):

KINGS BAY NAVAL SUBMARINE BASE, Ga. – The first U.S. women allowed to serve aboard submarines will be reporting for duty by 2012, the Navy said Thursday as the military ordered an end to one of its few remaining gender barriers.

The cramped quarters and scant privacy aboard submarines, combined with long tours of up to 90 days at sea, kept them off-limits to female sailors for 16 years after the Navy began allowing women to serve on all its surface ships in 1994.

There were some protests, particularly from wives of sub sailors, after the military began formulating a plan last fall. But it received no objections from Congress after Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified lawmakers in mid-February that the Navy intended to lift the ban. The deadline for Congress to intervene passed at midnight Wednesday.

Rear Adm. Barry Bruner, who led the Navy's task force on integrating women onto submarines, brushed aside questions from reporters about the potential for sexual misconduct or unexpected pregnancies among a coed crew. "We're going to look back on this four or five years from now, shrug our shoulders and say, 'What was everybody worrying about?'" said Bruner, the top sub commander at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in coastal Georgia, where the announcement was made.

The first group of women will consist entirely of officers assigned to guided-missile attack submarines and ballistic-missile submarines, which have the most living space in the Navy's fleet. They'll be assigned to two subs based at Kings Bay on the East Coast, and two others at the West Coast naval hub of Bangor, Wash.

Limiting women to officer slots lets the Navy, for a time at least, sidestep the more vexing and cost-prohibitive problem of modifying subs to have separate bunks and bathrooms for enlisted men and women. Enlisted sailors make up about 90 percent of a sub's 160-sailor crew. No timeline was given for integrating enlisted women onto subs.

Bruner said 24 women will be able to begin training for submarine officers, which takes at least 15 months, this summer. They'll be divided up so that three women are assigned to each sub's two rotating crews. That grouping will let all three women aboard a sub share a single stateroom for sleeping. The single bathroom shared by a sub's 15 officers will be equipped with a sign to show if it's occupied by men or women. Otherwise, most changes will likely be behavioral shifts by male sailors who aren't used to having women aboard, said Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Lombardo, executive officer of the submarine USS Alaska. "The guys are probably used to walking to the restroom in their boxer shorts and stuff," Lombardo said. "But all in all, I think the adjustments for the crew are going to be minor."

One of the most difficult groups to win over on the concept of coed subs has been women themselves — at least those who are married to submarine sailors. On blogs and online networking sites, wives of submariners have warned that close contact between the sexes at sea could lead to temptation and allegations of sexual harassment. "There's a lot of Navy wives worried about their husbands cheating," said Petty Officer 1st Class Glenn Gray, a missile technician on the Alaska, who said his wife isn't crazy about the idea. "I've told her not to worry, because I'm married to her."

The Navy declined several requests by The Associated Press to interview female sailors and cadets at U.S. bases about the policy change. Women are currently allowed to serve on subs in a few countries, including Australia, Canada, Norway, Spain and Sweden. About 52,446 women serve on active duty in the U.S. Navy, or about 15 percent of total personnel. Navy officials said women also make up about half the pool of potential recruits with educational degrees that qualify them for training as submarine officers. "We literally could not run the Navy without women today," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement.

Sailors interviewed aboard the Alaska at Kings Bay on Thursday said they're not opposed to the change. But Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Merceri predicted there will be "a little more anxiety" when female officers come aboard for the first time. "Everybody's going to be really up on their P's and Q's, very formal and careful of what they do," Merceri said. "After that, everyone will be relaxed and comfortable. It'll be another day at work."
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This is From Yahoo News
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Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this story from Washington. Russ Bynum has covered the military based in Georgia since 2001.
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Now I wouldn't want to serve on submarines myself, but that's just because of the normal reasons: it's super cramped, you don't visit ports, there's lots of rules about secrecy (more than on surface ships) and I'm sure there would be a few more if I thought about it longer. I think it's just fine that they're integrating them... I would be a little nervous at first, because of the close quarters, but as with anywhere in the Navy, I think it's just something to get over.

Nautical Weekend

On Saturday the 24th, I visited Naval Station Bremerton for the destroyer museum ship and museum.

and on Sunday the 25th, I ran/walked the Bellevue 5K after my recruiter told me about it last Monday.

Ever since I had to do those push-ups I've remembered to call every Monday to check in. :) Speaking of push-ups, I had a sudden fear Saturday morning that I wasn't doing enough to work on improving them, so I busted out as many as I could... and I went up to 16. Little by little!

First Official Workout

Because I was curious about what went on at these bi-weekly PT gatherings that are only during my regular working hours, I decided to go today. Went to work early so I could leave early and make it there by 1100. I was only a couple minutes late (time got away from me at work) and the other ten or so recruits were already breathing hard when I walked in. Petty Officer Jordan was leading this meeting... the next thing we did was pretty easy: going up and down on the balls of the feet over and over (40 times).

There were push-ups and squats and flutter-kicks and windmills and lunges. While doing jumping jacks, we kept repeating a silly story about 50 cents and an elephant: "I asked my mother for 50 cents to watch the elephant jump the fence; it jumped so high, it touched the sky and didn't come down til the Fourth of July. One, Petty Officer" (repeat up to 15 times... which can really make one lose their breath if they're not careful). Talking and jumping is not a good combo.

And then I learned how to do an 8 count push-up. Gosh, it goes so fast... I really do need to practice that one. And now I know why they are so disliked. From a standing position (one), squat on the floor (two), assume the position of a push-up (three), do a push-up (four), stay in that position and spread the feet shoulder width apart (five), move the feet back together (six), come back to a squat (seven), and then stand up (eight). Except it's fast and we were supposed to do 10 or 15 of them. It sorta felt like a thousand.

After we kept this up for about 40 minutes we then went down the hall and did pull-ups (well, some of us :) Then we came back in, stretched, and went on a formation run, twice around the baseball field behind the building. I got to be in front and we even sang a cadence about how my grandmother at the age of 92 "did PT better than you", and at the age of 93 did it "better than me"... at 94 I think she did it some more... by 95 she had died... it was rather fun.

And from all this I gleaned that I have a lot of work to do before September 21.

Right at the end of run he had us stop, left face, and say the Creed. We did some General Orders and then were questioned about what a CPO's rank looks like. There were a couple people there who I had never seen before that haven't contracted yet and were interested in a book or something so they could learn all this. So I passed on my Navy Knowledge page address to them. Maybe it'll help...

Oh! And I weighed in at 172 on the April Fool's Day meeting... and today I was at 168! Only one pound over my limit! Yay! Here's to portion size and exercising! And now for some more portion size and exercising... :)

A Look Back

Just received the 1944 Bluejacket's Manuel in the mail from eBay this noon! That was a quick ship! It would have been the edition my grandfather used when he joined the Navy and sailed on the USS Roi in the later parts of WWII. It is generations away from the one I read last year, and includes how to man a turret gun, how to do calisthenics with your M1 Garand... and identifications for US Navy ships, from carriers (CV) and Battleships (BB) all the way down to a rubber landing craft. And I loved the page with "Flags of Major Maritime Nations" that included (obviously) a Nazi flag, the Imperial Italian flag, the USSR (with a "man-of-war" flag that I'd never seen before) and a Imperial "rising sun" Japanese flag. It's just incredibly awesome to hold that in print in your hands and remember how frightening that must have been then. USS Roi only had one battle star. I think they shot down a Japanese plane. It was a small transport carrier that only served the last couple years.

Navy Knowledge

Due to this last meeting, I thought it proper to add a "military bearing" section to my "Navy Knowledge" page. I hope it actually helps some poor recruit out someday... I just learned some of it myself last week.

It's linked on my list of links, but here it is anyway:
Jen's Navy Knowledge

6th Monthly Meeting: 1 Apr 2010

And it was no joke.

We had a joint regional meeting of the Naval Recruiting Stations from Lynnwood, Northgate, Woodinville and Bellevue (mine). Our Chief was leading the meeting, and there were probably around fifty recruits and a dozen recruiters.

We formed up at first like normal to say the Sailor's Creed. I love getting in the front row so I can say it loudly for the Chief. We went through a bit of drill & ceremony, practicing the transitions from Attention to At Ease to Attention to Parade Rest and so on, and the rules associated with each. He went through the ranks and asked individuals to say whatever General Order he asked them to say. I never got to say one, but he gave me a big compliment... he looked at me and said, "I know you already know it." and then asked the guy next to me to say it. I have to admit, in a setting like that it would have been hard to shout out the order. I do know them, but I need to be able to tell them to the Chief in front of fifty recruits while at attention. For some reason, that situation intimidates me.

The rest of the meeting was spent talking about rather dull things. We talked about "a healthy lifestyle" and stress and suicide prevention. There was also a bit about resources for families for active duty Sailors. I am ultra motivated if I can stay motivated for the Navy after a meeting like that.

I was very happy to tell my recruiter that I told my boss about the Navy, and he was glad to hear it. I told him when I'm quitting and when I can be more active, coming to program workouts.

Huh?

Got a text from my recruiter today:

"DROP!! Give me 30 push ups right now! Don't think about it, just get it done! Text me back when your done."

And so, at work (I do have a cube where no one else could see me), I tried very hard to do 30 push-ups, and I did more than I thought I could. But the last 15-20 of them were pretty sloppy; I need to build up my strength. Gosh, I was breathing hard and my body was shaking. It's a good thing nobody saw or heard. LOL

And I still don't know if I did anything wrong, or if he texted the wrong person, or if it was just for fun... who knows!
The rule is: obey.

"Aye, aye, Petty Officer!"

Thinking and Re-Thinking

Just went and visited my brother this last weekend.

He's coming up on one year in the Corps next week, and he's pretty much not thrilled about being stuck in Yuma. He is isolated there and keeps talking about how he is looking forward to getting out... making plans for how he's going to leave and what he'll do when he gets home.

I found out, by him talking about coming home for the 4th of July, that weekend leave is very restricted. You can only go so far away from your station depending on how long a weekend (I was already familiar with this part), but what I didn't know was that when you go on liberty (personal time off), weekends count as part of the days you take from your allotment.

It's always un-motivating to hear him talk about how backwards and boring the military is, but it's better to go in with your eyes open than to have a romantic picture of it (as I'm sure he did).

I think I will get along just fine. I've gotten to the point where I can control some of that impatience with things I don't agree with or understand. Working at Aerojet has certainly helped with that. I had a really rough time in ROTC, because I just wouldn't conform... and most of the fun things were too difficult, physically. I regret many of the attitudes I had then and I'm ready to make up for it now and serve with dignity. I'm excited to go into this with a perspective on what it's like to hold a regular job and how unfulfilling it can be... to live for weekends and then not know what to do with them when you get them... yuck.

I was thinking about what it is I like to do; what I *really* want to spend my time on. All I could really think about was photography, sports and reading classic books... So why waste most of my life going to an office working on something I don't really believe in (finding life in outer space) when I could serve the Navy instead, which I do believe in (with oppertunity to do what I enjoy anyway)? Thank the Lord I'm joining the Navy.

Books

I finished reading the 619 page, 24th Edition, Bluejacket's Manual (2009) on January 23rd this year. Some parts were kinda slow, like retirement benefits or marlinespike knots, but in general I went right through it. It was published in May, I had it by June, and it only took that long of off and on reading to finish. Lots of stuff that I will become familiar with in the future, but it was good to get my toes wet and know going into it some of the things I will have to deal with.

Just recently I've discovered the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy's (MCPON's) Reading List. So I got a couple titles and discovered one more. I bought a reference timeline, and "Brave Ship, Brave Men" by Arnold Lott. The discovery was referenced in the Bluejacket's because it was by the same author. Thomas J. Cutler of the Naval Institute Press wrote "A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy" (2005) and I received it in the mail the day before leaving on a week plus vacation to North Carolina. As he says in it, it's more of a book about Navy heritage than history. It jumps around on the timeline of events, but has a baseline of themes, telling stories about individual people. It was fabulous! And I finished it by reading solely on the airplane, both going and coming; I could barely put it down.

For certain, Mr. Cutler is proud to have served in the Navy, and it's inspiring.

5th Monthly Meeting: 3 Mar 2010

Today I was there in plenty of time again, but I was rushed on the way because there was so much to do at work that I left a little later than I wanted to. I volunteered to lead the group in the Creed, which was fun and very slightly nerve-racking. There were only 15 of us there, but I continue to not like being in front of a group. It's seemingly better if you know what you're doing when you're doing it though.

Next we had an exercise with cards where we would have to draw a card and then say the corresponding General Order with everyone listening. I drew #6 and left out the second word, "obey". It was a great way to see where we're at under pressure.

The district chief petty officer was there again tonight and most of the meeting was him talking about how hard it is to get into the Navy these days. He had to discharge 7 people out of the district programs last week for being overweight or getting a DUI or the like. He was there especially to talk to the couple people who are shipping out this month to make sure they are good to go. My recruiter has taken over as office lead, so he ran the rest of the meeting. And afterwords, as my first meeting as Recruit Yeoman, I stayed afterwords and filed all of the re-certification sheets that we must fill out every time we come in. It was nice to help out.

4th Monthly Meeting: 10 Feb 2010

This time I got of work early enough to get there on time. This meeting was not during the first week of the month, like normal, because the station had a review that week. Our first topic was military bearing since one person from our program had been less than formal when talking to an officer recently. That officer chewed out the office lead, so he was not happy. We talked about why and how and when to be militarily formal, including how to sit at attention and not look around ever when at attention and how to be rigid. One letter from someone at boot camp right now talked about how the RDC caught them not being rigid enough by being able to move their arm by pushing it out of position while they were at attention. It's nice to learn things like this... what expectations will be like before getting there.

This lead us in to a discussion about what the first three weeks of boot camp will be like... lots of yelling and vulgarity designed to disorientate us, how we will wonder why on earth we joined and how we will feel like it was a mistake... until we get used to it. And most of all, how we will be extraordinarily tired the entire time. He told us about the awful shots they give and about his awkward experience trying to get a uniform that fit when he went thorough.

The next bit was about some of the benefits of being a Sailor. The college fund, the GI bill, and things I didn't know before like the program that takes the profits from the Navy Exchange and uses that for recreational assistance when available. We talked about paid leave and how it's possible to use military aircraft and bases for significantly reducing the costs of traveling. Immediately I thought of seeing Germany... :) We'll see...

We ended the meeting by going over military bearing one more time. Petty Officer Jordan selected me along with two others to try and get people to mess up, and I was flattered, but I am terrible at getting in people's faces.

3rd Monthly Meeting: 6 Jan 2010

This meeting I brought my friend Julie along with me because we had just spent the day together having fun on a little trip to the peninsula. We got there on time, because I wasn't coming from work for the first time. After the creed, the only thing we talked about for the rest of the meeting was ship and aircraft recognition. Petty Officer Jordan held up pictures of ships and aircraft and told us about the unique characteristics of some of them, like the difference between destroyers and frigates. And then there was an informal test in groups, writing down the names of a series of pictures he held up. The team with the most right answers ended up not having to do ten push-ups. It was a rather long meeting, and my friend said she wouldn't like the Navy because of all the profanity. She's the daughter of my dad's friend who was led to Christ by a fellow Sailor.