Considering that I have worked on surface ships & subs I feel like I should pipe up. With all due respect, you all have correct and vague points.
I have been underway for many moons, in cramped quarters for surface ships & worked on/inside subs in drydock & pierside.
It is a lot about the job & can you do THE JOB. The Navy has 2 different exercise standards but with work - I was held to the same standards as men. Hauling electrical cables are not light. Stores onload, weapons onload is done a lot by manual labor. I’ve humped the UHT milk boxes, 5 gallon pier side, up the gang plank to the on-stores elevator. Now I have huge shoulders, a strong core & can leg press 300lbs.
What I have noticed, is what perhaps what civilians would notice in regards to jury duty: some ppl have integrity & do pull their weight, some ppl will do whatever they can to get out of it.
I do know is that somehow if you are reliable, the higher-ups pile on more work because they can depend on u.
Divorce rates: they are highest amongst military members who deploy & the second grouping with the highest divorce rate is police personnel.
In many cases, it might take some extra time but women can do the same job.
I do know that I cannot lift as much as a man can but I can rack back an M-50 & fire.
Shipboard firefighting gear is not friendly. The OBAs (Oxygen Breathing Apparatus) were made for the shoulders to carry the weight. My best friend, who was blessed in the chest, got stuck in a scuttle wearing an OBA & had to be cut out of it. Now the newer SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) allow for a weight shift: shoulders or a hip carry (which is where women have their strength). Adapt & overcome, where you can.
Some pieces of equipment are better handled by guys. Carrying a mate to safety worries should only be fretted over in respects to speed (which under fire – yeah! I want the speediest). From what I know, you don’t leave your wounded mate. You get them to safety even if you have to drag them. The movie ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ did a disservice to perpetuate the idea that ppl leave their mates.
I am warmed by the words that women should be kept from war.
I do think that women should be taught to defend their soil.
Attitude
My first warship I was in charge of the female berthing compartment. It was a maiden-crew & most females’ first at-sea experience. In-fighting or attitude came in the form of not going down to the ship’s storeroom to stock toilet paper. See the flaw? The prima donnas attitude would not bend so low to restock the vital john paper. Solution: every female signed out their own roll of toilet paper for personal use only to be locked up afterwards in their rack. *earmuffs warning for the weak* Oh yeah & they pretty much, all have the same cycle after 1 or 2 months.
Women take a lot of showers. My ‘steam & heat’ engineering mates were usually griping about the loss of hot water. We’d have to go to water hours (no water for showering). That is the woman’s kryptonite. ‘French showers’ (bathing w/perfume) just create an even worse environment. Most of the time we had own baby wipes. Men were also pretty ticked about the lack of batteries in the ship’s stores. (yes)
I was 1 of 5 female engineers in a department of 100+. It is hard work.
Most places are confined quarters. In many ways, women can fit in smaller locations where men cannot reach. Where the Chow line is, happens to be a major artery of conveyance. You & your tool bag have to get past 500 marines onboard waiting for food because all other routes are not accessible.
In one instance we had a marine yell, “If I get c*ck swabbed one more time, I’m gonna ….” Needless to say, I was the next person & he got his wish.
Insofar as whinging/whining about not having access to the SEAL program, really? Well, until women start flooding the ranks of the EODs & Divers, which are roughly stepping stones up to being a SEAL, there is no room to complain. Most ppl who complain about the military haven’t served long enough.
I don't see submarine duty for females working the same as it has worked for surface warships. And an all female sub could be the most dangerous of all.
