THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 13, 1994 TAG: 9409100019
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Regarding Suzanne Fields' column ``S.O.S.: Submarines will remain off-limits to women in the Navy'' (op-ed, Aug. 27):
I am one of the military women who has been on active duty in the Navy - for 12 years now - and I have been stationed on board a ship. It is obvious that Fields has a warped idea of the role of women in the military and doesn't know of the equal responsibilities that we bear to fulfill command missions in the defense of this country.
I resent the implication that women are assigned to ships as complements to men as sexual objects. I quote: ``The bad news, for all our young men cast upon the waters, is that the nights will continue to be cold and lonely at sea. Talk about discrimination: The sailors on the subs and small ships will have to be satisfied with pinups and Playboy centerfolds, while the sailors on the big ships - like the carrier Eisenhower, with a complement of 500 women - can enjoy the real thing. Unfair is unfair.''
I suppose I do my share in defense of our nation's freedom so that people like Fields can have their opinions, no matter how warped and unjust they may be. But she should do us all a favor and keep her ill-mannered opinions private. And she should publicly appologize to the thousands of military women whom she has maligned in print.
CARMEN P. GASTON
Chief, U.S. Navy
Wallops Island, Aug. 27, 1994 by CNB