Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504170074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Boston Globe
DATELINE: ABOARD THE USS EISENHOWER LENGTH: Long
That's how it's been for the past six months at sea, say the men and women who have lived together aboard the aircraft carrier. Never mind the jokes about the ``Love Boat,'' the reports of 15 pregnancies among the women sailors or the widely publicized incident in which a couple was discharged after they videotaped themselves having sex.
``I don't see them as females. I see them as partners,'' said Jeff Williams, a military police officer, as the history-making ship that had been his home prepared to come into port at Norfolk. ``Everyone worked as a team.''
``They are like my brothers,'' said Lt. J.G. Kristen Dryfuse, a Naval Academy graduate who works as a navigator in an F-14 fighter.
Indeed, as the sailors debarked into the arms of waiting friends and family - ending a Navy experiment in social evolution as well as a successful deployment - those on board declared the mission a sign of what is to come.
``There is no turning this clock back,'' declared battle group commander Rear Adm. Daniel Murphy.
``The experiment is over. They'' - the women - ``are fully integral to everything we do. We knew it before. Now the whole world knows it.''
``Now it seems more natural to be on a coed ship,'' said Murphy, who for nearly 25 years served on an all-male ship. ``It would be strange to go back to an all-male ship.''
Throughout the mission - which began last October when the ship sailed with 415 women among the 5,000-member crew - combat readiness remained at the highest possible levels, Murphy said. There were no mishaps or accidents during 2,600 combat sorties, 96 exercises and three major operations that took them to the Mediterranean Sea, Indian Ocean, Arabian Gulf, Adriatic Sea and Black Sea.
The ship's commanding officer said it was the most successful deployment of his career.
Such comments from a high-ranking naval officer would have been akin to heresy not so long ago. But several officers and sailors interviewed at sea the day before the ship returned to Norfolk agreed that the deployment went remarkably smoothly and that women performed well in the most demanding of jobs, including one of the most difficult - landing aircraft on the deck of the carrier. At night.
Indeed, there were distinct benefits in having women handling some of the jobs. Consider the case of Tammy Wilkins, an aircraft mechanic.
Wilkins measures a scant 5 feet tall. She discovered that she could crawl beneath helicopter seats to make repairs without taking the seats out, a huge time-saver that her bulkier and bigger male colleagues appreciated, she said.
She was the first woman in her command unit but said that she found quick acceptance. ``If you go out and do your job, the guys can see that,'' she said.
The women interviewed acknowledged gender differences in physical size and strength, but cast them as just that - differences - not disadvantages. In today's Navy, technical skill and intelligence are far more important than brute strength, they said.
Indeed, the deployment appeared to be a successful exercise in unit cohesion, the military priority for combat forces, because soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen must trust one another to fight effectively together.
Crew members complained most about the adverse publicity that attended news that 15 pregnant women had been sent home. Twelve had become pregnant before the ship set sail and two became pregnant during a Christmas port call in Cannes, France, when their husbands joined them for the holiday. The episode involving two sailors who recorded an illicit romantic encounter on videotape was discounted by crew members as an aberration - and a somewhat comical one at that. Both sailors involved in the incident were dismissed from the Navy.
The Navy's sexual-harassment training before the deployment created some initial tension on board because it put both male and female sailors on guard, the sailors said.
``The men felt intimidated at first. All that sexual-harassment training made them afraid we were out to get them,'' Master Chief Cynthia Daley said. ``But once we could show we were here to do a job and work with them, the tension went away.''
One of the sailors under Daley's command, Dirk Palmer, was on his second deployment. He cited her as an effective leader.
``If they can do the job, they should be with us. It doesn't bother me,'' he said.
Sailors work a routine 12-hour shift on ship and longer during operations so they soon became too busy to worry about gender distinctions, they said.
``The whole job is based in being professional. If you don't like it, you just have to ... just do it,'' said Dryfuse, who doubled her F-14 flying hours during the deployment.
There were a few changes from the old days of all-male crews. Male sailors said that dinner conversation was far more interesting with women on board because women had more varied interests than sports and work.
And there was some concern that too many showers were being taken, using up the ship's fresh water supply. Women were initially suspected of showering too often, but officials quickly discovered that it was male sailors who were taking two showers a day. They wanted to look good, Murphy said with a laugh.
by CNB