In a move likely to stir much debate among sailors and sociologists alike, the Navy is lifting the ban on women serving aboard submarines and eliminating one of the few remaining gender-specific career tracks in the US military.
Mara Gay of AOL News has the latest version of "Dont ask..we're telling you" :In a letter to Congress last week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates notified lawmakers that women will be allowed to serve on submarines for the first time in the Navy's 110-year history, ABC News reported. Congress has 30 days to pass a law to stop or delay the policy, but if it remains silent, women could be aboard Navy submarines in 18 months.
The lifting of the ban removes one of the last glass ceilings for women in the military.
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus told ABC on Tuesday that allowing women to serve on subs is "a great idea and the right thing to do."
Women have served courageously along side men in numerous capacities in the story of modern conflict and have earned every stripe. The concern is that, yet again, social engineering could well trump common sense, open discussion, and concern for morale in rushing to make the submarine service co-ed.
How will the morale of the Silent Service be affected when generations of esprit de corps and tradition are altered - to whatever degree - by gender integration? Is anyone asking the logical questions of how deploying men and women in isolated and close quarters - away from family and spouses - for months on end could or will affect working conditions and by extension the tip of America's spear and nuclear capability?
In a world that rushes toward the "uni-sex" ideal, the unintended consequences need to at least be considered - in fairness to all parties involved in the changes.
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