CO Of Attack Sub Fired For ‘Drunkenness’

By Philip Ewing, Navy Times, March 16, 2010

The commanding officer of a Pearl Harbor-based attack submarine was fired Monday after he was found guilty of “drunkenness” and “conduct unbecoming an officer,” in nonjudicial punishment, a spokesman said Tuesday.

It was the seventh CO firing of 2010.

Cmdr. Jeff Cima, skipper of the attack submarine Chicago, was relieved by Capt. Daryl Caudle, commander of Submarine Squadron 3, after allegations regarding Cima’s behavior during a March 10 visit with a Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps unit, said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Benham, a spokesman for Submarine Force Pacific.

Benham said he could not give more details about the visit or Cima’s alleged misbehavior. He said Cima has been temporarily assigned to the staff of SubRon 3.

The squadron’s deputy commander, Capt. James Horten, has temporarily taken command of Chicago until a permanent replacement is named, Benham said. Horten is a former commander of the attack sub Olympia.

Cima’s career has included tours aboard the attack submarines Drum and Pasadena, as well as with the ballistic-missile submarine Pennsylvania, culminating with a stint as executive officer of Pennsylvania’s Blue Crew.

He graduated from Boston College in 1991 and received his commission through Officer Candidate School.

Other skipper firings this year:

• Capt. John Titus Jr. was fired Jan. 8 as CO of Naval Supply Corps School in Georgia. An investigation found that he did not adequately punish a subordinate accused of fraternization.

• Capt. Holly Graf was fired Jan. 13 as CO of the Yokosuka, Japan-based cruiser Cowpens for “cruelty,” a spokesman said.

• Capt. Glen Little was fired as CO of Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C., after he was arrested Jan. 26 on a charge of solicitation of prostitution.

• Cmdr. Scott Merritt was relieved as head of Naval Support Activity North Potomac on Feb. 12 following nonjudicial punishment. Sources told Navy Times the NJP involved fraternization with junior Navy personnel.

• Cmdr. Timothy Weber, the CO of the Norfolk, Va.-based destroyer Truxtun, was relieved Feb. 17 for having an inappropriate relationship with a female officer in his command, according to a Navy statement

• Capt. William Reavey Jr., CO of Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., was fired Feb. 26 for “inappropriate conduct,” officials said

Navy Downplays Concern About Sexual Assault On Submarines

By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes, March 18, 2010

Women will soon be aboard submarines, but how will submarine crews deal with sexual assaults?

That question was raised by one of my colleagues at Navy Times Thursday at a roundtable with Navy officials on sexual assault prevention.

The reporter noted that submarine crews live in very close quarters and can spend months submerged.

“I believe we’ve already been operating in that environment for years,” said Rear Adm. Daniel Holloway, director of manpower, personnel, training and education.

"No.1: On our frigates and our destroyers today, very close quarters. In our individual augmentees and support overseas, whether it’s inside the camp fence line or in a foxhole, and in our mine countermeasures, our mine sweepers, our women today serve side by side.”

When asked how an alleged perpetrator or victim could be taken off a submarine, Holloway said submarines can surface to evacuate sailors having a medical crisis.

“We view the sexual assault, and the mental health condition, re-victimization, her or his safety, the same way as appendicitis,” he said.

In such cases, the submarine rendezvous with a surface ship and the sailor is usually taken off by helicopter, said Lory Manning, director of the Women in the Military Project, a non-profit group that looks at policy and law on what women can do in the military.

“It’s not something that would be unique to a rape,” she said in a phone interview Thursday.

Crimes such as male-on-male rape already happen on submarines from time to time, said Manning, a retired Navy captain.

“In fact there are more male-on-male rapes in the military than male-on-female rapes,” she said

As Women Join Subs, Male Force Holds Steady

By Rick Maze, Navy Times, March 14, 2010

The Navy appears to be hedging its bets on whether women are going to work out as members of submarine crews.

In written testimony provided Wednesday to a Senate committee, the Navy’s assistant secretary for manpower said efforts are underway to begin training women to serve in submarines, beginning with officers assigned to large guided-missile and ballistic-missile submarines.

“As a measure of extra caution, the Navy will not reduce the number of male officers training and qualified for submarine duty until we have experience with successfully placing female officers in those roles,” said Juan Garcia, in a statement for the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on personnel.

No questions about the Navy’s plans were raised during the hearing.

Garcia said the plan to end the ban would lift “one of the last gender barriers” and also helps “insulate us from the anticipated surge in hiring by the civilian nuclear power industry in the decades to come.

“Because of the critical mission and demanding environment of the submarine force, we envision a gradual and measured approach to this integration,” Garcia said. Initial efforts will concentrate on officers serving in bigger subs “where the existing infrastructure will accommodate these changes without material alteration,” he said

Gates To Be Commended For Move To Get Women Aboard Submarines

By Trey Alverson, Fayette County News (GA), March 11, 2010

Amidst the media storm generated by President Obama's January call for the end of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," another important "right to serve" story has slipped beneath the national radar.

On Feb. 26, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus notified Congress that they intend to drop the ban on women serving aboard submarines.

Congress has until April to either accept the Defense Department's proposal or pass legislation to keep the ban intact.

While the decades old red herrings of "uncontrollable hormones" and "disruptive unit cohesiveness" are already bubbling up in veteran communities and on Capitol Hill, Sec. Gates knows what he is doing.

The submarine community is one of the military's most exclusive. Only the brightest sailors get hand-picked for submarine billets. The enlisted men currently serving on submarines scored extremely high on aptitude tests and completed some of the military's most intensive, costly and thorough training before ever walking across a submarine brow.

The junior officers who aspire to serve on submarines must perform exceptionally well in their college math, science and engineering classes, complete a series of interviews with high ranking submarine officers and then survive the exhaustive and challenging post-graduate curriculum of the Navy's Nuclear Power School.

The Navy routinely struggles to find enough qualified newly-commissioned male officers to embark upon this challenging career path.

The Naval Academy's current freshman class contains 253 women -- exactly 20-percent. With a submarine force that already strives to select only the best qualified midshipmen to become submarine officers, it simply does not make sense to eliminate 20-percent of potentially qualified candidates right off the bat.

Sec. Gates' current proposal would immediately open submarine duty to female officers on Trident Class submarines. Trident boats are the extremely large 'boomers' often spotted in the waters near Camden County that serve as part of our nation's nuclear deterrent. They are much larger than their cramped 'fast-attack' cousins of the Los Angeles and Virginia Classes.

Accommodating female officers on Tridents would require little to no modifications of current berthing configurations. While female officers and crews have long been allowed on the navy's surface ships, some older vessels -- like the frigate I served on from 2005 through 2007 -- do not have the space for separate female enlisted berthing.

Thus, the only females I served alongside onboard the U.S.S. Reuben James (FFG-57) were officers. They had their own state room and they shared three single-occupancy officer wash rooms with the wardroom's men.

This living arrangement works on frigates -- it has for years. And I worked with some outstanding female officers on my ship. There is absolutely no reason to believe that a similar living arrangement would cause problems within the submarine community.

If Congress is serious about keeping pace with the rapidly expanding and vastly improving Chinese submarine fleet, it would be wise to embrace the defense secretary's plan.

Any policy that limits the navy's ability to funnel the brightest and most capable junior officers into the submarine community needs to end. Sec. Gates understands this and should be commended for his effort to lift the ban.

(Alverson, a Fayetteville native, is the editor of this newspaper and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.)

Sailors Sound Off on Women in Submarines

Newport News Daily Press, March 6, 2010

Push for integrating women into the submarine service and expect the language to get a little ... salty.

Like this, from a reader named Jason:

."I had the opportunity to train with a few women onboard a prototype facility in Charleston, S.C. I have seen with my own eyes what women can and cannot do and, if I was still onboard a submarine with a woman and I had to go and open the cross connect valve for her I would be pissed. Everyone has to pull their own weight and women cannot do that 100 percent. G.I. Jane is a fictional character in a fictional film. She does not exist. Get over it. P.S. Mind your own damn business."

Or this:

."Spend a couple of weeks going through the same drill and routine all boat sailors contend with and then tell me if it's just a matter of heads, passageways and equality. And after you get through with your shrink visits, then write another article." - Nick, MTCM(SS), USN (Ret.)

I heard from many former submarine sailors after last week's column praising the Navy and Pentagon decision to integrate, and blasting opposition based on cramped environs, scarce bathroom or bunk space, the specter of messy personnel issues and the overall impact on combat readiness.

They felt I wasn't taking those concerns seriously. And missing others.

."First, there are no jobs I know of on a nuclear submarine that women could not do and do well," writes Bill, who says he's a former submarine commander. "Here is the actual issue. On a warship and especially a submarine there is a very precious resource that every good commanding officer carefully husbands. It is called commanding officer's time. ...Good COs use that time to make his or her ship better ready to fight and operate under all circumstances and eventualities. Any other use of that resource is taking away from the ship's readiness. Once we integrate women ... the CO will (lose) 25 percent to 35 percent of that resource. It will be spent doing 'social engineering.'"

Sorting out harassment, fraternization and girlfriend/boyfriend issues, Bill says, will simply make the ship less ready.

Others thought I gave short-shrift to fraternization problems.

."I won't claim to know what's on a woman's mind but a young man, it's sex a good deal of the time," writes Lenny. "Rules and regulations will do much to clamp down on the issue of biology but it won't really fix anything. It will be just another case of the military directing its people to do an already difficult job with even more garbage to deal with."

.Throw women in with men "at their most heightened sexuality" for up to 10 weeks, writes Richard, from Hebron, N.H.; "everybody's life is at stake, and it is a hostile environment outside. Now ... what could possible go wrong?

"You can't imagine what animals we turned into when we hit port."

The Silent Service is by accounts a life of stress, deprivation and taking comfort where you can. One retiree jokes that 150 men go to sea, and 75 couples come back.

And that's without co-ed crews.

"The submarine environment is already tough enough," retired chief machinist mate Dusty Wilson told me in a phone interview from his home in Hurley, N.Y. "People that haven't been there can't understand it."

Wilson served aboard the USS Baltimore out of Norfolk in the late 1980s. He retired in 1997.

"Having rode the boats for 20 years, I would agree that all those arguments (against integration) are not insurmountable," he says. Surmountable or not, "I am dead set against the idea. The men who ride these boats face enough challenges without being saddled with trying to be PC and a gentleman while doing some things that need to be second nature."

."What is the bottom line?" Jason writes. "What will this cost me? With the government in serious financial debt to foreign creditors why should we be faced with increased spending just to make a few liberal feminists, like you, happy?"

Not just me.

."I had hoped that my granddaughter would be the first commanding officer of an American submarine but am thrilled that it is going to happen more quickly," writes PW, MMCS(SS) USN (Ret.), Groton, Conn., Submarine Capital of the World.

"The bottom line is this. Many of the submarine sailors view submarine service as the last private club. ... They know that women could do the job and that men and women can work together. But we are just little boys in a tree house with a rope ladder and a sign on the door - no girls."

(Ed post: Read problems that weaken our Navy. Not only has the military been used promote the economy, but is used promote the social agenda.)

http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/12/07/navy_tosses_the_entire_leadership_of_a_ship

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/12/navy-relieves-top-officers-ship-over-relationship

January 7, 2010

USS Flasher SSN 613 Reunion

Dates: May 12-16 2010

Place: Seattle Washington

Hotel: Courtyard by Marriott in Tukwila WA

16038 West Valley Highway

Tukwila, WA 98188

Phone 425-255-0300

Rate $94/night

Be sure to mention Flasher Reunion to receive our rate.

Proposed Activities
Wednesday, May 12th	Arrivals, Meet in Hospitality Room
Thursday, May 13th	Sub Tour, BBQ at Adm. Bacon’s
Friday May, 14th	Assoc. Meeting AM, self tours, and Pizza and Raffles in PM
Saturday May, 15th	Memorial Service AM, self tours, and Dinner in PM, Guest Speaker Roger Bacon
Sunday, May 16th	Make turns for home.

Greetings Flasher people, Soul Pig here. I know everyone is anxious for details of the next Flasher reunion. I apologize for any delay but I have been trying to wrap up some loose ends. I believe we are close enough to send this letter. A registration form is attached. We have some added fees as we will be hiring a bus for transportation to the base and Admiral Bacon’s house.

The Courtyard by Marriott has a free shuttle from and to the SeaTac airport and within a three mile radius. You have to call and register yourself at the hotel at $94 a night. We no longer have the luxury of free beer so maybe bring a little, I’ll bring some and I believe Dale Gleave offered to bring beer even if he has to use Mule’s money. The hotel policy is no alcohol in the hospitality room but we will be on a don’t know, don’t tell basis. Discretion is of utmost importance.

Our Saturday night dinner will be at our hotel. The dinner is not formal. I have asked Roger Bacon to say a few words about his time as CO of Flasher, he was my last CO.

Friday Morning we will hold our Flasher Association meeting in the hospitality room. We will be voting on association officers and the 2012 Reunion site. This cycle we will be in the Midwest and in 2014 we will be back on the east coast then back to the west coast in 2016. To facilitate voting I am offering three sites for 2012. Look these up to prepare to vote.

Branson, Missouri, very reunion friendly and now have an airport
St. Louis Missouri, Lots to do and see “Gateway to the West”
Dupage County, Illinois, close to Chicago Illinois, variety of things to do and see.

If any one has any raffle items to donate they are always appreciated. We use the raffle money to maintain our association funds for stamps, pizzas, raffle items, etc. Raffle items can be anything and not just Flasher or Navy items. Bring them to the reunion or send them to me.

If there are any questions do not hesitate to write, call or e-mail me. I am anxious once again to see old friends and meet new ones. If you are in contact with any Flasher sailors regardless of what years share this information with them and send me their contact info.

COB Larry Weinfurter AKA Hot Dog has Flasher ball caps for $12.

Ken Tupman (Soul Pig) Flasher 1969-1973 EM1 (SS)

1516 Sun Ridge Dr.

Bourbonnais, IL 60914

Home Phone: 815 936 9318

Cell Phone: 815 383 7897

Tuppy613@aol.com

USS Flasher SSN 613 Reunion

Proposed Activities