June 2011 - Navy
By LCDR Nicole L. M. Shue
In 1996, I arrived in San Diego for my first sea tour,
and I walked up the brow to a warship that was not
designed for women, and it wasn’t altogether clear
whether we were wanted there either.
In those days, the most immediate concern related to
six female officers among nearly 1000 Sailors and
Marines focused on sleeping and shower arrangements.
The quick fix was a sign on the door of the head that had
“Male” printed on a blue background and “Female” on a
red background on the flip side. This made for a few
embarrassing encounters in the early going for men used
to trudging blindly to the shower each morning.
Although the vast majority of my male shipmates came
around quickly, there were also troubling instances of
unsolicited advances and phone calls from a few male
crewmembers. Needless to say, these challenges did not
make things easier.
It wasn’t until my first overseas deployment that I
realized how just being on this ship represented progress.
When our ship pulled into Aqaba, Jordan, the hostnation
port representatives wouldn’t even speak to me
when I met them to arrange power and service connections
to the pier. Only after repeatedly asking for the “real”
Duty Engineer and a few awkward moments did they
realize that if the ship were to receive hotel services
(and they were to get paid), they would have to work
with me, the ship’s Duty Engineer for the day, who just
happened to be female.
As I return to San Diego 15 years later, I take great
pride that women’s roles in the Navy, and the military as
a whole, have progressed even farther than ever before.
Today, we are not only driving ships and serving in
air squadrons, but commanding them. We have also
learned that women bring unique strengths, skills, and
perspective that have given the military a competitive
advantage in day-to-day military missions, such as the
courageous and innovative Marines and Soldiers of the
Iraq Lioness Program and the Afghanistan Female
Engagement Teams, who are able to interact with the
local female populations there in a way that males cannot.
Last month in San Diego, as part of Women’s History
Month, military leaders joined the largest gathering of
women in uniform nationwide at the 24th annual Sea
Service Leadership Association’s Joint Women’s
Leadership Symposium. While our history is our srength,
there are still pioneers out there today.
For example, Vice Admiral Carol Pottenger, one of the
first females selected for sea duty, is the first female
Surface Warfare Officer to achieve three-star rank and it
is only a matter of time until we have our first four-star
admiral to join General Ann Dunwoody, the Army’s first
female four-star general.
Later this summer, the first group of female
Submarine Officers will report to their boats, and Rear
Admiral Sandra Stosz will become the first female
Superintendent of any military service academy when
she assumes command of the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy.
The accomplishments of these women attest to what
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike
Mullen, recently noted: courage and leadership recognize
no gender.
Progress still remains to be made, however. For
example, the recently released Military Leadership
Diversity Commission concluded that women are still
underrepresented in top leadership positions, and that
there are still barriers and policies which prevent some
women from advancement and from contributing in
national defense decisions. Without equal opportunities
for leadership experience and the advancement that
comes with it, there will continue to be a lack of female
leadership and contribution at major commands, or
even a future female combatant commander.
Yet as my career comes full circle, and I begin training
to bring me back to San Diego to report to the ship that
I have been selected to command, I look back with
satisfaction and pride. I’m proud of what women have
accomplished, but I know that there’s even more we
can do.
I hope that our leaders and policymakers see the
value that military women bring to the mission, and
continue to take the steps needed to provide us every
opportunity possible – in my mind, they have good
reason to do so.
For today, the issue is no longer whether the military
can accomplish the mission with women in ranks; it’s
that it cannot do it without them.
The author, LCDR Nicole L. M. Shue, is the current
President of the Sea Service Leadership Association. She
is the Prospective Executive/Commanding Officer of USS
HIGGINS (DDG 76).