Tuesday Notes & Tidbits (2015, #005)

Submarines are always silent and strange. - Tidbits  No. 05

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Politics - Transparent Pre-election Pandering   2 July 2015 -  Mabus triples maternity leave from six to 18 weeks 

Women in the Navy and Marine Corps hoping to raise families while advancing their careers are about to get a big boost. Starting immediately, paid maternity leave is tripled to 18 weeks for moms, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced Thursday.

"When the women in our Navy and Marine Corps answer the call to serve, they are making the difficult choice to be away from their children — sometimes for prolonged periods of time — so that they can do the demanding jobs that we ask them to do," Mabus said in a release. "With increased maternity leave, we can demonstrate the commitment of the Navy and Marine Corps to the women who are committed to serve." -  NavyTimes

M.E.:   Secretary of the Navy Mabus, a Democrat attorney with skimmer experience paints a compassioate face on his concession to women.  Surely, 18 weeks is only a starting point to this madness. Servicewomen, like men make huge sacrifices for DEFENSE readiness.  This move, which will be hugely more disruptive for secretive submarine force missions than for the surface vessel crews will have three unfortunate impacts on the sub force:
1- Pregnancies are being encouraged.
2- Training, qualification and sequalia will be disrupted for female sailors who become pregnant.
3- To some uncertain extent, the overall readiness of the U.S. submarine force will have been needlessly sacrificed for more votes.  

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Disappointing Disclosures  2 July 2015 -  Confessions Of A U.S. Navy Submarine Officer
Excerpts:

• "After the meal you go on watch. That means you might not get to the bathroom for six hours so you better have some good bladder control. I knew a lot of guys who had to piss in a bilge funnel. I remember more than one time someone not getting a watch relief and shitting in a bucket behind the switchboards. One guy must’ve had a weak stomach because he shit his pants on multiple occasions."
• That’s what makes sub hunting so hard and so nerve racking. And it’s not as important as a mission as it was during the Cold War. I’d bet we’re losing our proficiency at it to be honest.”
• A movie played in the [1} Wardroom, [2] Crews Mess and [3] Chiefs Quarters every night. Those are the only two [sic] places to really socialize.

• ”I think I got two days off in four months. Like I said, that captain was a jerkoff and worked us to death.”
• For me, being in such close proximity to everyone wasn’t usually an issue, but everyone would get sick of it once in a while. No personal space other than your rack. Trying to sleep when you know the guy in the rack below you is whacking off to weird porn with a plug in his ass... Just sick of knowing that much about everyone. Sick of smelling feet and ass and guys who don’t shower

M.E.: No question the guy is a "nuc",  but this is NOT how commissioned "officers" are supposed  to talk about subs out of school unless authorized by higher authority [Mabus again?].  What kind of woman would be encouraged to volunteer for subs by such confessions, particularly the six-hour wait to pee?  While you think about that, is someone actually trying to discourage women?  The "officer" interviewed gives more or less the standard political answer to why women have been "overdue" for sub service.  In other words, he saves himself from a political heave-ho.