Women On Submarines?

The US military is considering lifting the ban on women serving in submarines.
Boom chicka bow-bow...

Women account for about 15 percent of the more than 336,000 members of the U.S. Navy and can serve on its surface ships. But critics have argued that submarines are different, pointing to cramped quarters where some crews share beds in shifts.

Nancy Duff Campbell, an advocate for expanding the role of women in the U.S. armed forces, said it would be easy to resolve problems associated with so-called "hot-bunking."

Awwww yeahhhhh.

"They say, 'How could we have the women sleeping in the same area as men?'" said Campbell, co-president of the National Women's Law Center (NWLC).

"But they already separate where the officers sleep from the enlisted, so it's not like it can't be done."

Yeah, but the officers are dudes. I doubt the enlisted men are spending any time thinking about how to violate that boundary. Or about the smell of the officers' hair and the way they fill out a uniform.

Well, some of them are thinking that, but that's a small demographic.

We'll see how it all shakes out. Undoubtedly the US Armed Forces are the most professional and disciplined in the world and they can make this happen if they set their mind to it.

However. I have my reservations.

I think as a general rule it's wise to assume that among a hundred or so young men trapped together in a tin can, there are going to occasionally be those who behave like swine.

And that the number of those will increase steeply as the months wear on and on.

It's gonna take some pretty damn brave women, is all I'm saying.

posted by Laura. at 11:27 AM

| Access Comments