Bahrain-based women to make submarine journey

Manama

Two women sailors of the US Navy serving in Bahrain will soon become the first female enlisted service members to make deep-sea journey in a submarine, according to stripes.com.

The website, which provides information on US military community, said two Bahraini residents, Information Systems Technician 1st Class Jasmine Underwood and Electronics Technician 3rd Class Marcia Morse were selected for the USS Michigan, an Ohio-class guided-missile submarine based out of Bangor, Washington.  They are among the 38 enlisted females selected for the programme.

Thirty-six-year-old Morse, who joined the US Navy 2012, grabbed the opportunity after she came across an article about plans to open up submarines to women sailors. “I read it and thought it was something different,” stripes.com quoted as Morse saying.

On the other hand, 24-year-old Underwood had been keeping an eye on the submarine programme for about a year. “I was waiting for an opportunity to join it,  ” Underwood said. 

In her six years of service, Underwood has seen 16 countries. However, she expects a completely different experience through this mission. 

She said women can do the same tasks as their male counterparts and submarine duty is a great opportunity to prove their ability.  

Currently, the sailors are concentrating on online training and talking to submarine sailors to become more familiar with their new task. They will have to visit Basic Enlisted Submarine School and their respective apprenticeship schools, before getting to Michigan. 

Until 2010, women were not allowed to serve aboard submarines. From late 2011, female officers began serving on Ohio-class submarines and more recently they also reported for the first time to smaller, Virginia-class fast-attack subs.