First women qualify as submarine officers
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For the last century all fully-qualified submarine officers have been men. But that all changed when two women were honored with their Navy dolphin pins.
The ceremony on Wednesday at Naval Base Kitsap was a graduation day of sorts with crowds, caps, and uniforms.
From a cluster of colleagues, two female crew members of the USS Maine ballistic missile submarine were called front and center for a designation that made them qualified submariners. The two junior lieutenants were among the first three women in the submarine force's 112-year history to get their dolphins.
"This is the mark where your command puts their confidence in you," said Lieutenant junior grade Jennifer Noonan.
Fellow submariner Lieutenant junior grade Amber Cowan also got her pin and said she was thrilled.
"I'm a little bit in shock I think," she said.
Cowan, a University of Washington graduate, and Noonan, a Boston native, each reported to the USS Maine nearly one year ago after completing 15 months of nuclear power school and rigorous training.
Now, they're officially part of the team.
"They really become like a family more than just the people you work with every day," said Noonan.
The next group of female submariners will begin arriving at boats in January. That's when they'll begin their training toward earning their own dolphin pins.
The ceremony on Wednesday at Naval Base Kitsap was a graduation day of sorts with crowds, caps, and uniforms.
From a cluster of colleagues, two female crew members of the USS Maine ballistic missile submarine were called front and center for a designation that made them qualified submariners. The two junior lieutenants were among the first three women in the submarine force's 112-year history to get their dolphins.
"This is the mark where your command puts their confidence in you," said Lieutenant junior grade Jennifer Noonan.
Fellow submariner Lieutenant junior grade Amber Cowan also got her pin and said she was thrilled.
"I'm a little bit in shock I think," she said.
Cowan, a University of Washington graduate, and Noonan, a Boston native, each reported to the USS Maine nearly one year ago after completing 15 months of nuclear power school and rigorous training.
Now, they're officially part of the team.
"They really become like a family more than just the people you work with every day," said Noonan.
The next group of female submariners will begin arriving at boats in January. That's when they'll begin their training toward earning their own dolphin pins.
Last Resort is my favorite TV show
If this was done in any fashion or manner that occured when women were first allowed to volunteer for flight duty, the pinning of their "earned" dolphins was a given. As an instructor in a training squadron, we were all given direct orders that all female students "shall" complete training regardless of the number of failure setbacks. It was total political garbage. Hope they do well........
 @kcsparky this is not a "gimme" they had to earn those. it is a different world on a sub.
 @beetle73 They were supposed to "earn" their way through our school too! Not be handed it on a platter. Sub-note: Not one in the first round of classes that "passed" our training syllabus ever earned their wings and were transferred out of their respective squadrons to non-flying billets elsewhere in the fleet.
I don't understand why the Navy switched to those camouflage uniforms. I mean, who are you hiding from on a ship?Â
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Good job, ladies, congratulations. This should no longer be news.
 @Hagar the embarrassing reason is that it hides paint splatters. Seriously.
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It is hard enough for the men to get their dolphins within 18 months and yet these women did it in less time. Things were pushed through to make this happen and it certainly wasn't done with any fairness but rather political pressure. As a woman I have heard the remarks about how "I must just not like women on boats because I don't trust my husband." Honestly, I trust my husband completely and have no issues with him working with women. He is the one(along with many more that are forced to keep their mouths shut publicly) who has problems with women on subs. He says there are many times where a woman is good enough or even better than a man, but on a boat is not one of them. And when his boat visited Australia a few years back, they got together with dozens of members of the Australian sub force. He said that every one of those sailors said having women on subs was a big mistake. Officially they can't say that, however it has caused them so many problems including not being able to go on a planned mission because of being undermanned when a woman is unable to deploy and they must have a minimum certain number of women sailors to deploy and if one can't, the boat can't leave.
 As for these young women, I say "Congratulations, I am sure it was a lot of hard work, however you just became the first token female on a sub solely because of political pressure. You did not have to do as much work as the men and although you may not actively make things tougher on a boat, things will be more difficult just because you are there." I for one would never want to jeopardize others because I had to prove I am just as good as a man.
 @Robinsnest Frankly I don't see a problem.  I'll go back and pull my qual sheets from my file cabinet, but am pretty sure I made it in about 15 months on the boat I was on. I was even DINQ a couple times.  Might be that rather than being given a free ride, these women felt that as the first of their kind in the Navy, that they had a LOT to prove and worked doubly hard to prove themselves!  Seriously, what dumba$$ would give ANYONE a free ride in subs knowing how quickly that could prove disasterous to the whole crew, and I'm sure the politicians in the Pentagon would rather have us lose a fast attack or boomer just so we could say we had female subsailors?
 @Robinsnest You seem well spoken and relatively intelligent, however your comments are severely misguided. As the wife of a submariner I am surprised you aren't better informed about the silent service. The Navy has just as many issues with men going SAD a convenient week before deployment as it has with women getting pregnant. These women have been in the fleet for over a year, through several deployments and guess what? No pregnancies. Also, if your husband is wearing dolphins, you should also know that the submarine force doesn't hand out dolphins because of political pressure, one has to to earn them. Finally, 12 months is the nominal amount of time it takes an officer to earn gold dolphins and much of that timeline depends on deployment cycles, so these ladies are exactly on track. I am wearing gold dolphins, and as an actual submariner who may one day serve with these women I am confident they are not jeopardizing their crew and they have already proven they are just as good as the men. It is clear to me you have no idea what you are talking about.Â
 @Robinsnest It has to start somewhere. Hopefully a few years from now it will be no big deal. It was that long ago that African Americans were not allowed servicing with whites.Â
As far as men being faithful, I believe most men are even under the most tempting circumstances. Â At least those with respect and honor.
@Robinsnest ahh yes a the military spouse: stirring the pot since 1776.
 @Robinsnest and how exactly do you "know" that? And why would you say they aren't as good as men? Each of these women look fully capable of anything a man can do on a submarine. It's not like they're lugging dead bodies down a hillside in the infantry. I know a lot of "men" who are not fully capable at anything, and yet no one asks if they can co-exist and do a good job on a "boat."
 @Robinsnest I'm sure they are just as good as their male counterparts if not better
 @Robinsnest "... You did not have to do as much work as the men..." How, exactly, would you know that?
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 @Robinsnest I would like to know why being on a boat is a problem...is it because they can't do the job or because they are objectified/sexualized by the men on the boat?
 @Robinsnest and one more thing, you realize that the men in Australia have a lower opinion towards women.
 @Robinsnest if you want a better write up read the kitsapsun. has far as your comments go where does it say that they got quicker? But, as someone that has been in the navy for almost 20 years now, i welcome these ladies into the service. and you will always have your people that say that women are a mistake. they said the same thing when women was first allowed on the surface combat ships.
 @Robinsnest Thank You for your husband's & service & yours as well.