Gates Declares It Is Time For Women On Subs

by Brandann Hill-Mann · 2010-03-05 10:00:00 UTC
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Secretary of Defense nominee Robert Gates responds to a question regarding his confirmation during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 2006. I am not certain if he is a champion for true equality in the fleet, or if he secretly just wants to make my BFF Elaine Donnelly's blood pressure sky rocket, but last week Secretary of Defense Robert Gates declared in a letter to Congress that there was to be no waiting around for Congress to vote on whether or not women could serve on submarines. Gates, along with Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, formally notified Congress of their intent to integrate women into submarine service.

I suppose it isn't really that simple, but that is the short version. Congress now has 30 days to respond and comment. Noting that he is aware that there are many capable and interested women serving in today's Navy, Gates said he is confident it is time for women to be on subs.

I think his watch is a little slow. But I digress.

Yes, the so-called ban on female sailors serving on submarines is to end as early as next year. CNO Roughead has said in official statements, having actual experience dealing with integrated surface fleets and the issues involved, unlike some vocal critics, that he is aware of the challenges involved, and the value of integrating. He is "very comfortable" integrating women into the submariners a scant 17 years after they were allowed to serve on surface vessels.

Women have proven themselves. As Tamara Dietrich at DailyPress says, even if I take a small personal exception, "Submariners are supposed to be the smartest folks in the Navy -- if they can't handle it, then they torpedo their own worthy reputation." The Navy can handle it.

Another great moment was Army General George Casey testifying before Congress that he also thought it was time to reconsider the policy banning women from front line combat roles, noting that women are already taking on many of these roles unofficially. With a cheeky thanks to IEDs and suicide bombers, he acknowledged that Iraq and Afghanistan are war zones unlike any we have been familiar with before, and that women have handled the situation incredibly.

Perhaps this will be the year I have hoped for regarding equality for women in uniform. Tell Congress to support women on submarines -- it's well past time.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Brandann Hill-Mann is a proggy-liberal, Native American, feminist, invisibly disabled, U.S. Navy Veteran currently living in South Korea on Uncle Sam's dime. She blogs at random babble... and FWD/Forward.
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