THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 22, 1994 TAG: 9409220007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
I just couldn't let this one go by. In the Military News section (Sept. 7) in the Weekly Briefing column, you report that the cruiser Vella Gulf made history last week as the first Atlantic Fleet ship with a mixed-gender helicopter detachment aboard.
Well, that may be a first for the SH-60 community, but CH-46 squadrons have been sending women on helicopter detachments for at least a decade or more.
There are women pilots and crew members from both Helicopter Combat Support Squadrons Six and Eight currently detached to ships in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Haiti. I am sure there are other East and West Coast CH-46 squadrons with women now deployed all over the world.
This is not the first time that you have made this type of mistake concerning women in the Navy. Please try to be more careful in your reporting so as not to slight all the women who have been bravely serving this nation for years.
PAULA LEARY
Chesapeake, Sept. 7, 1994 by CNB