Women In The Military Increasing, Could Serve As Navy SEALs One Day

WASHINGTON — It's a dramatic tale.

Elite Navy SEALs storm a walled compound in Pakistan and take out the world's most wanted terrorist.

Footnote: They were all men.

While America's last 10 years of war have propelled women into new and far more risky roles across the military, there are still some doors that are closed. Chief among those are the special operations forces.

But perhaps that door is inching open.

"As a philosophical thing, there shouldn't be anything that's closed off as a career," said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. And while he is quick to note there is a ban on moving women into combat and infantry jobs, Mabus said more and more women are working with special operations forces in support roles. And he did not rule out the idea that a qualified woman could eventually become an elite commando.

Still, Mabus cautioned that it would take time. "We're going to have to take some careful, well-thought-out steps in that direction," he said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed a similar view late last year, telling North Carolina ROTC students that he believes women will eventually be allowed to serve in special operations jobs. At some point, he said, "there will be a careful step in that direction."

One of those steps is the Navy's recent decision to allow women to serve on submarines. Of the 18 women selected for the program, eight will report to their submarines in November to serve as supply corps officers. Others will report to subs next summer.

The first eight – all are newly commissioned ensigns – will be divided among four ballistic missile submarines, the USS Wyoming, USS Georgia, USS Maine and the USS Ohio. And there will be a senior female officer – likely a lieutenant – on each of the subs to serve as a mentor and work with the ensigns to help with the transition.

"We are making a concerted effort to not only look at retaining women, but at bringing more women into the Navy," said Lt. Cmdr. Jean Marie Sullivan, chief of the naval personnel's office of women's policy.

With the addition of those women to the subs, the only Navy jobs still closed to female officers are with the SEALs.

By announcing the subs and putting a senior female officer on board with the two ensigns, the Navy says it is working to ensure a smooth transition that will gradually put women on attack subs. And, as more female officers merge into the ranks, they will pave the way for the eventual inclusion of enlisted women.

Currently, however, the cramped quarters on subs don't provide adequate berthing for enlisted women, and it would be costly to make the necessary modifications.

Overall, the Air Force has the highest percentage of women in its ranks, with a bit more than 19 percent. The Navy is close behind, with nearly 17 percent women, followed by the Army with 13 percent and the Marines with less than 7 percent.

On Friday, women made up almost 21 percent of the 2011 graduation class of sailors at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and more than 17 percent of the Marines.

Across the services, just a handful of jobs are closed to women, and those are mainly combat, infantry, artillery, pararescue, tank and special operations forces.

The growth in the number of women in the military, and their increasing roles in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, may be tearing down slowly the remaining walls that bar them from serving in front line combat.

Earlier this year, a military advisory panel recommended that the final areas of discrimination be dismantled, bucking concerns that women lack the strength and stamina to fulfill those grueling jobs, or that the American public will balk at seeing large numbers of women coming home in body bags.

Already more than 255,000 women have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and nearly 150 have been killed in those wars.

And while women may not be SEALs, or members of the Army's prestigious Delta Force, they are increasingly serving with special operations teams in supporting jobs such as intelligence analysts, legal specialists, builders and administrative assistants.

So, while the SEALs who stormed Osama bin Laden's compound early this month were all men, women have been deploying to the warfront with Naval Special Warfare Command squadrons for several years. Since 2007, 10 to 15 women have deployed with each NSW squadron, and more than 400 female sailors serve with the Navy's special operations forces in supporting jobs.

That program temporarily assigns women to units that are close to the warfront, but it precludes them from doing combat missions. So far, said Sullivan, it has been very successful.

"One of the things we are seeing is that as women move up and get more and more responsibilities, our retention rates for junior officers and junior enlisted are going up as well," Mabus said.

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Comments

[FlipMode]

04:15 PM on 06/02/2011

If the Japanese had female samurai, we can have female SEALs.

[jbarkls]

03:14 PM on 06/01/2011

Men are not equal to women, or women to men.
WTF... how hard is this to see people? they are opposites of the human pole; and for a reason.
Women balance men, giving them the care, the softness, understanding, men naturally lack. Men balance the woman, giving them the power, the fearlessness, and the brute they lack.
wanna know why this earth is in revolt? why the storms are so much more deadly, why the disasters are coming more and more?
it ain't all about the pollutions of the resources alone; its about the pollution of humanity and this issue of man=women, women =man is at the heart of it. we fail to see the beauty, value, necessity of each other, but instead of working on this, we try to make us all the same... ain't gonna work kids.
what we need is to return to our natural positions, but with the love and wisdom we are capable of towards one and other. Women should be women and men, men; helping and holding each other up in the ways we are created to do. Return to this and watch things really change.
BTW, this same recipe applies to all the hatred and bigotry, we humans so love to dally in. Religious, ethnic, race .... when in our "superior" existence are we just gonna realize we are all human beings first, and bind together in that; then help each other move forward?

Jes me talking.

[KMoore4318]

02:34 PM on 06/01/2011

There are some unspeakable things that happen in war, although there are some woman that could handle it, not sure how many of their fellow team members could handle knowing it's happening to them, as much as you all want to argue the sexes are the same, it takes very little investigation to find a difference. And any 8-14 year old knows about it, perhaps I am sexist, but there are things I never want to see. I lived on a Submarine for 4 years, we can find a way to integrate this, would be difficult, and make things harder, but it's do-able. But please, please never integrate the seals, Or Active combat.

[serendipindi]

11:43 PM on 05/31/2011

So many good arguments for women being given an open door to attempt to become a SEAL. But please, dear ladies, one woman to another - a former US Marine to those who aspire or aspire on behalf of others -
Why in God's green Earth do you want this????
This IS NOT the highest apple on the tree of the advancement of women's interests.
Read up, read up, read up and read again on real, raw military culture...then interview every single former military woman you can find and ask her about life in the military. Don't ask just one person. Don't ask just two. Go ask a hundred and DO NOT ask a recruiter for anything resembling truth about military life.
Why do you want this? Do women really need to smash every glass ceiling? Do you even know what you are demanding you be able to do????

[Diana Black Bandelow]

10:41 AM on 06/02/2011

To be treated equal. Plain and simple. And one bad @ss chick could possibly someday have the title of Navy Seal. Believe it.

[speckitis]

06:30 PM on 05/31/2011

One of the key ingredients to current BUDS training is that officers and enlisted live, eat, qrap, and work together. I don't know how women could be included into this intimate training environment....... But if they can get OBL, I'm certain they'll figure this one out too.

[paganmist]

02:24 PM on 05/31/2011

There's one special ops force in the world that is accepted to have an even harder training than the SEALS. In fact, this special ops force set the program that EVERY elite ops training course uses - including the SEALS, who often train with them. What unit is this? The British SAS. The SAS had their training technique for 50 years before the Navy SEALs picked up their program in the U.S. The SAS trains a large portion of our special forces, including some SEALs. A simple google search "which is harder sas or seals" will show you that hands down, every acknowledges that SAS training is the hardest in the world, followed by SEALs, and the two often work together. The SEALs have Hell Week, made up of being cold, shivering, carrying heavy stuff, lying in the surf and freezing in the water, trying to swim with hands/legs tied. The SAS has evade-an-capture week, when you're dropped into a jungle with a tin that has basic supplies in it, and you must avoid being captured, immediately followed up by 36 hours in a HANOI-HILTON style torture session. They are the forces upon which (literally!) all others are based. ...And they had at least one woman. When the IRA was in full power through the late seventies into the 90s, the SAS created a special unit to deal with them and they decided to make it open to women, because they planned on making someone who had SAS training but could also do covert spycraft and infiltration, and women can get places men can't. So Sarah Ford (look her up) made it through SAS training, and then made it through spycraft training, and then went into Ireland with the 14th INT and engaged in a 20-year war against the IRA up through the mid and late 90s. And unlike the previous SF units sent to deal with the IRA, the 14th was successful. The IRA signed a ceasefire in 1997. Sarah Ford has written an autobiography, and a military historian has written a book as well with a strong focus on her life as the only woman in the special forces at the time.

[MayoGalway]

09:50 PM on 05/31/2011

For your consideration....
Inside Special Operations
SAS: British Special Air Services> Amanda Ferguson, 2003
Women in the SAS
"While there are no members in the main core of the SAS, one British special forces community recruits women on an equal basis with men: The 14th Intelligence Company. The 14th Intelligence Company is often referred to as "the Det" because it is split into so many detachments. This highly select unit was formed in 1974, a combination of SAS members, Intelligence Corp, surveillence specialists, and select infantry volunteers. The unit was sent to the most hostile parts of Northrn Ireland to collect information about terrorists.
Female members of the Det go through the same training as their male counterparts, with an emphasis on intelligence gathering. In her memoir, One Up: A Woman in Action with the SAS, Det veteran Sarah Ford writes she doesn't understand the rules that keep women out of the main branch of the SAS, her work was dangerous, adventurous,and rewarding."

But not the main core or branch? The much more difficult physical training standards. What I infer from this is that she didn't go through the same strenuous physical training regime that is the main core, but was specifically chosen to train to be in the Intel unit. IMHO


http://books.google.com/books?id=uU1hNQJqb3sC

[MayoGalway]

10:21 PM on 05/31/2011

I would be hard-pressed to believe that she could've passed SEAL(BUDS) training including Hell Week or USAF Pararescue Jumpers(PJ's). Not at all convinced.

"While there are no members in the main core of the SAS,(point-of-the-spear warriors)
rules that keep women out of the main branch of the SAS,(POTSW physical training)
Female members of the Det go through the same training as their male counterparts with an emphasis on intelligence gathering.(Emphasis on Intel gathering)

[omobob]

01:55 PM on 05/31/2011

When it comes to cold water swimming, woman swimmer Lyenne Cox holds all the records. She swam to Antarctica from and off shore island. It a one piece bathing suit, not wet nor dry suits, She has crushed every long distance cold water record once held by men If all SEAL training required was stamina and perseverance against outrageous and dangerous odds, Lyenne Cox would be a B]Navy SEAL.

[Riyter]

01:54 PM on 05/31/2011

Let's see....women were considered the weaker sex except when there was a lot of planting to be done in the old south and then suddenly it was determined that female slaves were just strong enough to do that kind of work. Fast forward to the 1940s, when women were considered to be less mechanically inclined than men, but then all the men went to war and they needed welders and the like and then the government called all the women to come and work as as welders.

So see, it just a matter of time before we burn out all of the male SEALs, then there will be a call for women to come be SEALS. All of sudden they will be just right for the job. Just wait, it'll happen.

[neverwrong15]

01:27 PM on 05/31/2011

I was in the Marine Corps. The Marines have the toughest boot camp for new recruits and the women had lower standards to meet than the men. Now Navy Seal training would be tougher than Regular Marine Corps boot camp by far so I'm not sure that letting women in would be a good idea. I know there are women out there that could perform as well as a man but in the end their durability would be far less and it is expensive to train our elite forces.

[paganmist]

02:38 PM on 05/31/2011

The SAS is the most elite special forces in the world, and the SEALs are #2. They have the most difficult training in the world, and they train OUR special forces. The SEALs training is BASED upon the SAS training. The already-elite SAS created an even more elite unit - people who went through SAS training, but then also went through intelligence and spycraft training as well. And they made this unit open to women and men. This unit, by the way, had a lot of the MI6, James Bond type specialized equipment, INCLUDING "Q" cars. They were soldiers and spies. And Sarah Ford - a woman - was one of them. It isn't know whether there are more women (they don't really go blabbing that), but there was one. That means there could be others. p.s. she wasn't a huge woman, just a woman with a lot of willpower and endurance.

[Taylor123]

12:28 PM on 05/31/2011

Back when I was in the Fleet I asked about this and here is the skinny I got....

When dealing with integration in the military or any organization that is thought to be resistant to that integration it ALWAYS comes down to quotas. Lets say that the DoD were to mandate that 10% of the BUD/s grads have to be women by 2020. That's a problem because only 25-30% of any given class graduates. Out of a 100 candidate class you would get around 27 men and 3 women regardless of performance. While there is no limit on the number of candidates a class may graduate this would lower expectations on the women because the instructors have to meet their quotas. Now you have people on the teams that are "good" but not the best.

The SEALs are called 'Teams" because in a very real sense that is all they are. A group of the absolute best all working on a single goal. They aren't super heroes, they are men that have proven that they deserve to be there.

Now I am sure there are a few women out there that could hump their own weight but SEAL training is abut separating those that think they can from those that KNOW they can. When you start selecting people on any criteria other then performance, you are going to start letting people in that only think they can. That weakens the whole unit.

[paganmist]

01:19 PM on 05/31/2011

The problem isn't women, then, it's quotas. And do you know why such a thing as quotas even exist? Because of men (I'm not talking about you unless you're this type of guy) who are SO dead-set against a woman ever being as good as them, that they try to deliberately sabotage her. They do more things to demoralize her and set all of the other men against her, trying to make her leave and degrade her. Instead of treating women equally (and I don't mean worse, I mean equally) men have historically tried to make them quit so they could say, "See? Told you a woman can't hack it." And THAT is why quotas came about - because of a horrible inability to be fair to a woman (and other minorities) due to bias. We can get rid of the quotas the moment the majority of military men start judging women not on their sex but on what they can do.

[barry444]

02:18 PM on 05/31/2011

Women can get into the Marines by performing at lower standards than men. They're allowed to run slower, they don't even have to do pullups...

[Taylor123]

02:29 PM on 05/31/2011

I agree that there are those that would try to push them out for the wrong reasons. But how do you seperate those from a group of instructors who's job it is to push you past your breaking point? How do they cross a line when its there is no line?

[am10]

12:10 PM on 05/31/2011

My nine year old daughter wants to be the first female Navy Seal. I think she just wants a shot at those obstacle courses.

[paganmist]

02:25 PM on 05/31/2011

Tell your daughter all about Sarah Ford, the first woman to join the SAS - the #1 elite force in the world (SEALs is #2). And then I hope that you tell her that she can do anything she sets her freaking mind to.

[UDKM2010]

12:01 PM on 05/31/2011

And my mom is going to head on over and get barreled at Pipeline next winter.

[TBrennan]

11:47 AM on 05/31/2011

Why not? Of course certain women could contribute to special forces. Nobody should be ruled out.

[saywha]

11:36 AM on 05/31/2011

Aren't there some things better done by a man? I'm a woman who likes the fact that the SEALS is reserved for men ...... OK, have at me.

[am10]

12:11 PM on 05/31/2011

I won't. While I hope there is some sort of "equivalent" for women one day, I'm perfectly fine with segregating the sexes.

[paganmist]

01:27 PM on 05/31/2011

You're entitled to your opinion, of course. I'm feminist enough to say that you should be allowed to be as traditional as you want. If you want to raise babies barefoot, more power to you! But I would think that you would have the same respect for your fellow women whose aims and goals and wants and beliefs in life differ from your own. The problem that always plagues equality is that because some people "can't ever imagine" what it's like to be someone else, they want everyone else to be like them. And so they implement or support policies that work well for themselves, but end up crushing other people who are different from them. There are women in this world who want to be SEALS. And there are women in this world who are CAPABLE of becoming Seals. Every time a special services has opened it's ranks to women, ALL OVER THE WORLD, they have discovered that women are capable of going through the training and being just as feirce a warrior as the men. And the men that they fight beside have nothing but GLOWING words to say about these women, and trust them to have their backs. It is only a pre-formed bias that makes the idea of a woman SEAL seem like a bad idea, and let's be honest, there's a little selfishness there on your part. Since you have the feeling that some things are better done by a male, you're okay with the country blocking opportunities for women who have different, equally valid beliefs. I'm not trying to insult you, I'm just disappointed. Because it was women like you who held us back when we were trying to vote, "Politics is a man's thing," and when we were trying to simply be allowed to wear pants, "Pants aren't for women." All the privileges you enjoy today are because of women who wouldn't accept the idea that "some things are better done by a man". If not for them, you have to admit, you would be a second-class citizen, because men sure as heck had no intentions of giving us any rights that we didn't fight for ourselves.

[saywha]

03:40 PM on 05/31/2011

First, you are wrong in assuming my comment was meant as a put-down to women who may disagree with me. You have as much of a right to your opinion as I have to mine. I do, however, find it insulting for you to take the position that because of my view on this ONE issue, I must "want to raise babies barefoot". In other words, I've got to agree that men and women are 100% equally adept at the "same" thing(s) or I'm living in the "dark ages". Actually, I also believe there are some things women are better suited for than men. Like it or not, we ARE physically different! Good Lord, what's so terribly wrong with that? It's not saying that one gender is therefore "better" than the other, although I wouldn't mind or be offended if the SEALS were to remain a Male fighting unit. They're great as they are and I doubt the addition of females will make them any greater. And you trivialize the discussion when you try to equate what I said with a woman's right to vote, or "wear pants". But if my view makes me less of the feminist I thought I was, so be it. Thanks, anyway for your thoughtful, albeit somewhat misguided response.

[Maconman380]

11:32 AM on 05/31/2011

Wasnt GI Jane a Navy Seal?