Navy Announces First Sub Officer Assignments for Women

[MK262]

Navy Announces First Sub Officer Assignments for Women

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21, 2010 – Two dozen women will begin reporting to four submarines by the end of next year, marking a new milestone in the 110-year history of the submarine force, Navy officials announced today.

Six female officers each will join the crews of the USS Wyoming, USS Georgia, USS Maine and USS Ohio, Navy Submarine Group 10 officials announced in a news release.
Three female officers will be assigned to each of the subs’ two crews.

The Wyoming and the Maine are nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, and the Georgia and Ohio are nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines. Submarines of these two classes are assigned two full crews, known as blue and gold crews, which rotate between sea and shore duty to maximize the time a submarine can spend in its assigned area.

Two of the women in each crew will be submarine officers, and the third female officer will be a warfare-qualified supply officer. They will be assigned to their first submarine duty station after nuclear power school, prototype training and the Submarine Officer Basic Course. They are expected to report to their assigned submarines beginning in December 2011.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=61373

[aegisnavy]

I wish all the best to them. I'm sure they will be a great addition to their crews. The trail blazers usually are.

[trvlr]

I wish all the best to them. I'm sure they will be a great addition to their crews. The trail blazers usually are.

I agree, but I wonder how the navy will deal with pregnancies when more women are allowed. I'm not an expert but I think it would be hard to replace one or more submariner during an emergency alert for a 6 month dive due to pregnancy.

[The Reaper]

I agree, but I wonder how the navy will deal with pregnancies when more women are allowed. I'm not an expert but I think it would be hard to replace one or more submariner during an emergency alert for a 6 month dive due to pregnancy.

Easy, now.

All you have to do is make sure they are all lesbians.

Shouldn't be too hard in the Navy.

TR

[aegisnavy]

All you have to do is make sure they are all lesbians.
TR

Respectfully, I would suggest that that is a glass-half-full attitude towards recent events playing out in the federal courts ;) :D

[longrange1947]

Being a chauvinistic pig that I am , I can find all sorts of fun with "hot bunking" in this case.

I am sorry, there are places were women are easy fits, subs and limited privacy is a very difficult fit. I have been on them and privacy is non existent. Granted, conventional spec opns subs, but damn!

Best of luck, but I can see the "bending of rules" form here.

As stated at the lead, "chauvinistic pig". :munchin

[trvlr]

Easy, now.

All you have to do is make sure they are all lesbians.

Shouldn't be too hard in the Navy.

TR

I laughed out loud.

[Green Light]

I wish all the best to them. I'm sure they will be a great addition to their crews. The trail blazers usually are.

Actually, they hardly ever are. Kara Hultgreen was the "trailblazer" for women fighter pilots. She was less than a natural, didn't quite measure up, but was fast-tracked to the fleet. She got herself killed and nearly killed her RIO due to lack of SA during a carrier approach. The RIO initiated the punch-out, thus saving himself. Her seat fired automatically .4 seconds later, firing her into the water. The Navy covered up her part of the accident, but it came out later.

There are others: the first female paratroopers (had to run in separate formations, separate PT, didn't have to jump combat equipment to graduate from jump school), Capt Holly Graf (ran her command into the ground, was relieved of the USS Cowpens). These "trailblazers" are usually politically driven experiments that usually end badly until they're thought out by professionals, rather than politicians.

[aegisnavy]

GL, point taken. I may have made too broad of a brush stroke with my comment. It is my sincere hope that this is not an example of that.

[Sigaba]

Source is here (http://www.nps.edu/About/News/Spring-Grad-Class-Includes-One-of-the-Navys-First-Female-Submarine-Candidates.html). Photos is there (http://www.nps.edu/About/Images/LEGRAND_1.jpg).Spring Grad Class Includes One of the Navy’s First Female Submarine Candidates

Article By: MC1 Grant P. Ammon

When Ens. Peggy LeGrand walked across the stage in King Auditorium to receive her master of science degree in mechanical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), June 17, she was a bit unique from her 270 plus fellow new alumni, for she is one of just 24 women selected to become part of the Navy’s first female submariners.

In April 2010, top defense officials parted with the more than a century-old rule of male-only submarine crews. For the 24-year-old native of Amarillo, Texas, selection to pioneer the transition of this policy change proved to offer her the opportunity of a lifetime.

Enlisting in the Navy under the nuclear surface electronics program in 2004, LeGrand swiftly proved herself in the military as an academic achiever. At the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command, she was quickly recognized as a top performer and offered a scholarship at the U.S. Naval Academy through the Navy’s Seamen to Admiral commissioning program. It was while serving at nuclear power school that she first discovered an interest in submarines and developed a keen attraction to underwater warfare.

“My interest in submarines started back in my A-school days,” noted LeGrand. “I would hear all of these exciting sea stories from people that have served on subs. The job seemed a lot more interesting to me than anything that was going on aboard an aircraft carrier. I also believe I will enjoy the people in the community. The submariners I’ve met are all very intelligent and full of character. It’s an all volunteer force, so I think their dedication is appealing.”

Rear Adm. Barry Bruner, commander of Submarine Group 10 and an NPS graduate himself, is charged with leading the Navy's Task Force for Women in Submarines, and he anticipates the change in policy to be a successful venture.

"It is important to note that women were first assigned to selected non-combatant ships in 1978; and in 1994, following repeal of the combat exclusion law, women were assigned to billets in surface combatants," said Bruner. "We are planning the first female submarine officer candidate accessions into the standard nuclear training and submarine training pipelines this year, making it possible to assign the first women to submarines in late 2011 or early 2012. The Navy has a good history of being able to work through these kinds of changes in policy, and I anticipate we will be just as successful in this endeavor."

ENS Peggy Legrand poses for a photo in the materials testing lab at Naval Postgraduate School. [See link above for the photo.]

For LeGrand, the excitement about her selection to join the Navy’s silent service comes not from breaking gender barriers, or pioneering new frontiers, but from the chance to serve in an exciting and challenging community engaged in rewarding missions.

"For me it’s not even about being the first, I’m just happy to get the opportunity to serve aboard submarines,” said LeGrand. “Desk jobs don’t sound that thrilling to me. I’m sure I’m going to do my fair share of paperwork and stand a fair amount of watches but at least I’ll be doing something worthwhile and doing it with people hopefully I enjoy being around.”

The motivation for LeGrand’s journey to submarines may have been spurned by tales from veteran submariners heard early in her enlisted career, but the actual path towards the community didn’t begin to take shape until the latter half of her undergraduate studies at the U.S. Naval Academy.

“When I first got to the Academy I was asked what community I wanted to serve in and my answer was always subs. By the spring semester of my junior year at the Naval Academy it was decided that I was going to serve as a nuclear propulsion officer in the Navy’s surface community,” noted LeGrand. “This led me to completing a screening interview that is required of all nuclear propulsion officers with Admiral Donald, the director of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program. By the fall of my senior year there was talk about finally letting women service select into the submarine community, and that is where it began to happen.”

Being inducted into the Navy’s nuclear submarine community, for male and female Sailors alike, is a long and exacting process requiring, in some cases, personal scrutiny from the Navy’s top nuclear reactor officer. LeGrand’s path to submarines was no exception.

“After volunteering for submarines during service selection, Admiral Donald interviewed us again,” noted LeGrand. “Basically he wanted to meet with us again to get a feel for our moral character. After completing the interview process with Admiral Donald, I was put through a rigorous physical screening. I had blood drawn and examinations to ensure I was physically qualified for the submarine duty.”

Physically qualified, and just having completed her undergraduate degree LeGrand was detailed to NPS’ mechanical engineering master’s program. Graduating from NPS is just one step towards assignment to a vessel. Now she will focus on completing the 15-month submarine officer training pipeline, which consists of nuclear power school, prototype training, and the Submarine Officer Basic Course.

“After graduating here I will go to nuclear power school in Charleston, and then to prototype and then Submarine Officer Basic school. It will probably be another year or more before I get to actually report to my first command,” noted LeGrand.

LeGrand says that her degree from NPS helped to hone her technical abilities, making her a stronger officer and a more valuable asset to the Navy. Opening the submarine service to female officers also allows the Navy access to broader pool of talent.

“This is a really good thing for the military because it allows for more qualified applicants to get to the submarine community,” said LeGrand. “Now you can get the highest qualified people who really want to be there. That’s really what it’s all about. Getting the right quality of people in the positions, not necessarily an opportunity for a gender-based decision.”

This wider selection pool was also a sentiment echoed by Bruner when he announced the Navy’s implementation of the new policy.

“It is important to note that the percentage of women graduating with technically-based degrees in our country has risen to the point where females now make up 51 percent of the total talent pool of young Americans we can recruit to enter our submarine force in the nuclear-trained officer community," noted Bruner.

While studying at NPS, LeGrand says she was not only afforded the opportunity to develop her technical skills, but also gave her the chance to grow and learn from officers who have been at sea, with the operating Navy.

“Studying at NPS has allowed me to learn from and interact with officers with fleet experience,” noted LeGrand. “They have been out there operating and can share insights with issues involving the operational fleets. I have also benefited from the mentorship of Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Heather Mattern. Sometimes she has been my voice of reason through this whole process.”

As LeGrand departs NPS and begins the next step in her submarine officer training, she notes the overall satisfaction of being selected to serve on board subs comes from being a good role model, and possibly inspiring others to follow her lead.

“I’m excited to do a good job and represent the Navy the best way possible,” noted LeGrand. “If I can represent the Navy in a more positive light and give someone else the opportunity to join the military when they weren’t necessarily thinking about it and it helps to improve their life, then even better.”

[incarcerated]

Easy, now.

All you have to do is make sure they are all lesbians.

Shouldn't be too hard in the Navy.

TR
I now keep the paper towels and Windex right next to the computer monitor, for exactly this reason. My keyboards, however, are not doing so well….:D:D

....Kara Hultgreen.....
http://www.thenationalpolicyinstitute.org/2011/05/31/what-killed-female-aviator-blame-navys-quota-policy/
….The death last October of Lt. Kara Hultgreen in an F-14 crash was blamed by Dalton on engine failure. From newspaper reports based on naval documents, it now appears that Lt. Hultgreen was killed by Dalton’s quota policy, which allowed her to remain airborne after she had failed performance tests that would have washed a male out of flight school.The Navy has tried to cover up its different gender standards by insisting that pilot error did not cause Hultgreen’s tragic crash. To help make this case, male pilots selected to replicate Hultgreen’s crash in a ground simulator were ordered not to follow the mandatory procedures for averting a crash in situations comparable to the one that resulted in Lt. Hultgreen’s death. According to information obtained by Robert J. Caldwell of the San Diego Union, the simulator tests were rigged and the results were used by Navy spokesmen to absolve the late Lt. Hultgreen of pilot error…..
See also:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/460239/WHAT-KILLED-FEMALE-AVIATOR-BLAME-NAVYS-QUOTA-POLICY.html

....Elaine Donnelly is president of the Center for Military Readiness and a former member of the 1992 Presidential Commission on Women in the Armed Forces. Shortly after the Navy started dissembling about the fatal crash, Lt. Hultgreen's training records and performance reviews were leaked to Donnelly, who also obtained internal Navy investigative documents cataloguing a series of pilot errors culminating in the crash.

After verifying that the information was authentic, Donnelly issued a special report, "Double Standards in Naval Aviation." She shows that Hultgreen was whisked through flight school despite failing grades and a record of serious problems, apparently because she was needed to meet a female quota. Donnelly's report contains about 100 pages of photocopies of internal Navy documents that cast doubt on Navy Secretary Dalton's account of Hultgreen's death. The report also chronicles a pattern of disinformation that the Navy has put out about Hultgreen's crash, disinformation that is continuing today.....

[ObliqueApproach]

You might want to read this to gain perspective on the politization of the entire "military social experiment". Weak Link: The Feminization of the American Military Although somewhat dated, it is still quite accurate.