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‘SAD DAY’ FOR SUB FORCE

Today is a sad day for the submarine force [“Pentagon announces end of ban on women on subs,” NavyTimes.com, Feb. 27]. There have been numerous firings of commanding officers for fraternization in the surface fleet. There continues to be a problem with female sailors getting pregnant to avoid deployments. Now all these problems are being dumped on the submarine force. I foresee a decline in the prestige of the submarine warfare device we hold so important. We will be forced to qualify [women] even if they don’t possess the knowledge, because no CO will kick a female [sailor] off the boat for not qualifying.

Any complaints that will be made will fall on deaf ears — people will think we’re complaining because we just don’t like [women]. That is, until people start complaining that we’re being too hard on them during their qualification process, making them clean the bilge only because they’re women. In that case, we will be told to go easier on them and hold them to a different standard.

We will lose a lot of highly qualified sailors to the realm of political correctness. We will make an already stressful environment more stressful.

— MM1 (SS/SW) Michael Dayton, Bangor, Wash.

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As a retired submarine officer, I am left to wonder why the Navy is doing this.

We are getting ready to spend taxpayer money to modify berthing compartments on submarines to allow women to serve. What will this expenditure of funds provide us? As I see it, nothing other than political correctness. It will not improve combat effectiveness. The sad truth is that it will impede it.

The submarine force, being the extremely competent group of individuals that it is, will figure out a way to make integrating women work. How will they do this? By working harder. This will add more work onto the already full plates of the commanding officer, executive officer, chief of the boat and the rest of the boat’s leadership team.

Contrary to the public perception that women on ships do not cause problems, they can and do. I have personally been aboard a submarine tender as a reserve lieutenant the day of an underway. The first thing that morning, a group of female crew members showed up with documentation that they were pregnant. I spent the morning with the chief engineer as he jumped through hoops figuring out how to fill the gaps in the engineering watch bill. What was a major inconvenience on a submarine tender would be a catastrophe on a sub; there are no extra people to fill in.

Don’t get me wrong, we could not live without the dedicated women who serve on shore and at sea. We need them. I just do not think we need them on submarines. Just because we can is no reason to do it.

— Capt. Michael Sears (ret.), Rocky Mount, N.C.

POOR STATE OF SHIPS

As a former member of the armed services who served with pride in the Navy back in the early ’80s, and who has worked on naval vessels as late as 2009, I have become discouraged.

I remember stepping aboard a naval vessel in 2005, some 22 years after I got out, and was appalled to see its overall condition. Thinking it was just that ship, I let it go. Now, after a few more years in the shipyard and working on Navy and Coast Guard ships from carriers to cruisers, I am just flat-out worried and upset with what I’ve seen.

When I served during the Cold War years, we used to make fun of the Soviet navy [ships], referring to them as “nothing but rusted tubs.” We took pride back then in making sure our ships and aircraft were in full mission-capable status or as close as you could get to it.

I don’t see that in today’s Navy; I see rusted-out tubs with poorly trained crews, listening to their iPods while on duty and surfing the Internet when they should be working, or at least training.

We need to step up responsible spending to provide the necessary monies for parts, supplies and training. If we continue on the path we are on, it won’t be long until we’ve gone from the strongest Navy to the weakest.

— Former ATAN Michael Andersen, San Diego

POW/MIA FLAG STILL VITAL

There are no words in the English language to adequately express my emotions after reading that letter [“POW-MIA flag has run its course,” Forums, March 1]. The POW/MIA flag is not a “meaningless black flag.”

There is a time-honored creed dating back to the birth of this great nation. The creed is a simple one: “Never leave a fallen warrior on the battlefield.” This creed does not end when the guns of war fall silent.

Today, that black and white flag is not just a Vietnam War-period flag. It is flown as a symbol of the American people’s commitment to the over 88,000 American service members who are still missing, whose remains are still unaccounted for from past American wars and armed conflicts dating back to World War II. Some were known to have been killed in battle, but their bodies were not recovered. Some were known to have been captured, but at war’s end, their post-war fate was unknown. For many, they were simply unaccounted for while serving in a hostile zone. They fell in service to their homeland. The four words across the bottom of that black and white flag — “You are not forgotten” are not meaningless for this old veteran.

The POW/MIA flag is a symbol of hope, giving rise to hope for the day when their grieving families will find closure on American soil.

— Capt. Ron Lewis (ret.), New Harmony, Utah

MORE AMPHIBS NEEDED

Reporter Philip Ewing’s piece “Marines lose out in latest round of amphib battle” [Feb. 22] is on target.

It accurately and artfully states the challenge of fencing monies within the Navy Department for the gator navy.

Amid the fog of conflicting requirements, it correctly articulates the Corps’ requirement for 38 amphibious ships. Each Marine should have the “38” requirement tattooed on [his] brain housing group. Without amphibs, we can’t fulfill our forcible entry mandate and assure access for the nation. We look more and more like an Army brigade. We need — the nation needs — 38 gators.

— Marine Lt. Col. Matthew McLaughlin, deputy director, Marine Corps Public Affairs, The Pentagon