For Ensign Peggy Legrand, the biggest concern for serving on a submarine is not to spend weeks at a time in cramped quarters with a crew of men. That concern is the review comes to breaking one of the last barriers between the sexes in the U.S. Army.
"I feel that more people will focus on us. Our mistakes and successes will be magnified more than they deserve," said Legrand, 25, graduated from the Naval Academy Amarillo, Texas.
Legrand is among a small group of women police officers who are forming the sites included in Groton, Connecticut, to join the elite submarine force earlier this year. Although the Navy says it is not to treat them differently from their male counterparts, officials have worked to prepare the submarine crews - and the wives of sailors - one of the most dramatic changes in the history of 111 years in the Navy "silent service."
The first class of 24 women will be divided into four submarines, where they will outnumber men by a ratio of about 1 and 25. Non-commissioned members, who represent about 90 percent of the crew of a submarine 160 that are not open to women, although the Navy is studying changes to create separate bunks for men and women.
The officials of the women, many of them graduates in engineering from Annapolis, used to be in the minority, and so far say they feel like strangers sentence. The school of nuclear energy is a part of their training, for example, was opened to women for years because the Navy in 1994, overturned the ban on women serving on surface ships, including nuclear power boats .
U.S. Navy Submarine School in Groton, where eight women have been dozens, who recently completed 10 weeks of basic training officer, Ensign Kristin Lyles said that the presence of a first-class females, the way a submarine duty I'm not even notice when this month of graduation.
"I understand why. Has never been explained, but it was just that if we go through training when they began to draw attention to the way it is we single out," said said Lyle, 23, of Fairfax Station, Va. "In my experience, I am not different from the man sitting next to me in all my classes."
A group spokesman of the submarine, Lieutenant Brian Wierzbicki, said the Navy would facilitate photographs and interviews with female submarine because it does not turn them away from education or getting them to feel differently their male colleagues.
Female agents submarines reportedly will begin in late November or early December. All ships are guided-missile attack submarines or ballistic missile submarines, which are relatively large submarine standards. They are the USS Wyoming and USS Georgia, is based on Kings Bay, Georgia, and the USS Maine and USS Ohio, is the front door in Bangor, Washington
On submarines with corridors wide enough for sailors to brush against each other, the six female officers on board all share a cab. Their movements will be divided so that women are assigned to each two in the crew rotation. The bathroom isolated for officers to have a reversible character, to let men know that it is in use by women and vice versa.
LeGrand said she is not worried about being outnumbered.
"Space is at a premium and there is room for everyone. Just get over it and do the job," he said in a telephone interview.
She said she is pleased with the opportunity to rejoin the community of soldiers under water, but does not stop being a barrier breaker.
"Occasionally I think about it and yes, okay, but in the end, I'm happy that I have the opportunity to serve on a submarine," he said.
Change is a source of anxiety for others, including wives of divers, who feared the close contact of the sea, the sailors could lead to cheating.
"The question is really about creating a relationship that becomes very narrow and the results in terms of relations still on the ground. That, of course, which annoys the wives. They know the kind of relationships occur among peers, "said Navy Rear Admiral WJ Holland against retired Jr., commander of submarines of age.
Holland said commanders are reluctant to have women on submarines, said the Navy has achieved a formidable challenge last year by banning smoking in submarines. The teams can adapt, he said.
The Navy has a ban on women in submarines in April 2010. In the fall, when officials announced the submarines first female elected to take senior officers held meetings with the city crew and their families to solve their problems. Wierzbicki, the Navy spokesman, said the training was provided for the crews and commanders to prepare for change.
The submarine was the last class of warship off limits to women. Navy officials said they learned a lesson from surface ships of integration is to make the transition gradually. The Navy wants to make sure you are aware of all possible problems that may arise, according to Lt. Cmdr. John Sullivan, head of the personnel policy of the navy for women.
"There will be challenges of leadership and the challenges of maturity for someone to deal with their first job. There's just an emphasis on it because they are the first submarine," said Sullivan.
The Chairman of the Advisory Committee for the Defense of Women in the Services, retired Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy, told a committee meeting last month that a risk is that men feel obligated and do not appreciate the presence of women.
"One of the issues surrounding women are integrated into this reflection," Oh, now, you're here, we can not do XYZ, '"says Kennedy." And this creates a greater sense of isolation and exclusion women. "
The Navy is looking to bring women on board the small Virginia-class attack sub, which requires reconfiguration to adapt to the men and women together.
LeGrand said the submarines of various missions of attack would be attractive, but the largest submarines are fine with it.
As a semi-professional cyclist, she hopes to serve on a large enough sub to bring on a stationary bike.
