THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406280056
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
DATELINE: 940628 LENGTH: Medium
No dating other members of the crew and, most definitely, no sexual relations on board.
{REST} It's the first time the Navy had to issue orders against dating on a carrier because until lately, women have not served aboard the mightiest man o' war - a ship designed to go into harm's way with missiles firing and planes launching.
But women are there now on the hangar deck, below decks, in the cockpits of planes that are sent hurtling off the Eisenhower's huge flight deck by steam catapults at the rate of one a minute.
When the Eisenhower left Norfolk a month and a half ago with about 80 women and 5,000 men on board, correspondents and camera crews from the CBS newsmagazine ``48 Hours'' were there to record what host Dan Rather refers to as ``co-ed combat.''
CBS had the run of the ship, the full cooperation of the Eisenhower's commanding officer, Capt. Mark Gemmill, and the carrier's air wing commander, Capt. Greg Johnson, a Navy spokesman in Norfolk said.
An hour documentary, subtitled ``Rocking the Boat: The War Between the Sexes on the Navy's first Co-ed Warship,'' airs Wednesday night at 10.
The Navy took $1.9 million of your tax dollars to re-arrange the living spaces on the Eisenhower to accommodate women in the ship's company and with Carrier Airwing 3. For the first time, this sign hangs below decks on the Eisenhower: ``Female berthing.''
Sailors stop work for a moment to sniff the air when the women in uniform stroll by. ``Heads will turn when women walk around with strong-smelling perfume,'' one of the enlisted men says on camera.
Look . . . but don't touch. That's the order of the day. Ignore the fact the Ike sailed with a fresh supply of condoms.
The sailors have been lectured about sexual harrasment. ``No touching each other so as to show undo affection.''
And one more thing, you hairy male sons of the sea: ``Act around the women on this ship the way you act around your mother.''
In stories covered by CBS correspondents Harold Dow, Phil Jones, Erin Moriarty, Susan Spencer and Richard Schlesinger, viewers see women in the Navy - including Petty Officer Sharon ``Shay'' Morris or Virginia Beach - who leave behind husbands and children when the Eisenhower steams out of port.
CBS brings on camera Lt. Sally Fountain and her father, retired Adm. Robert Fountain, who doesn't think it's such a hot idea for his daughter or any other woman to be flying combat. ``The Navy ought not to do it,'' he says.
But the Navy is doing it. Watching ``48 Hours'' will show you what a hassle it is to send a carrier to sea with women in the crew.
Hassle or no hassle, we belong, says pilot Sally Fountain. ``Nobody has the right to tell me I can't fight and die for my country,'' she says.
In a segment that shows the contrasts between the military of the 1990s and the military of 50 years ago, ``48 Minutes'' talks to female pilots from World War II who were sworn to secrecy about their mission of ferrying aircraft from coast to coast. The WASPS kept their secret for years.
Today, it's no secret that Lt. Terry L. Bradford, who grew up in public housing far from any ocean, flies jets off the Eisenhower. But is that enough for this young woman?
On ``48 Hours,'' you'll hear her say that she aspires to be an astronaut.
Also taking part in ``Rocking the Boat'' are the women left behind while their men steam off in the company of female sailors. Can you blame them for being a little jealous? They shouldn't be.
After watching this edition of ``48 Hours,'' in which carrier sailors are seen putting in 18-hour days, you get the impression that everyone aboard the Eisenhower works too hard and is therefore too weary for any hanky-panky. by CNB