Naval Academy plans to send first women to SEALs training
Due to the structure of job assignments at the USNA, the earliest female SEAL won't be until 2017
By Tim Prudente
The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Male midshipmen often seen hauling a backpack across the Naval Academy bridge are practicing the rucksack run, part of the screening test for admission to Navy SEALs training.
Soon, women may join them.
If orders come from Navy officials, the academy could open the screening test to women as soon as this spring, said Col. Stephen Liszewski, the commandant of midshipmen.
Last week, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced all military positions will open to women, including SEALs -- the final service assignment prohibited to female midshipmen.
At the Naval Academy, officials said Monday they were awaiting orders on how to meet Carter's mandate. At earliest, the Class of 2017 could send the first women to SEALs training, Liszewski said.
"We will ultimately respond to the timeline that's established," he said. "There has always been interest from the female members of the brigade."
Academy upperclassmen submit preferences for assignments, choosing among Navy pilot, submariner, Marine Corps and others. Last month, the approved assignments were announced for the Class of 2016.
Some 241 midshipmen were assigned Navy pilot, 136 were assigned submarines.
And 38 mids were assigned to SEALs.
SEALs assignments are highly competitive. Liszewski said about 100 midshipmen showed early interest in SEALs.
Midshipman Dave Von Savage, of Cape May, New Jersey, earned one of the 38 spots.
"The selection process here at the academy has been intense," he told the academy's Board of Visitors on Monday.
Academy officials routinely send few midshipmen to SEALs training. The final numbers depend on the needs of the Navy.
The Class of 2015 sent 31 mids to SEALs. The Class of 2014 sent 28.
Classes of 2013 and 2012 sent 30 and 28, respectively.
Before earning a spot, these midshipmen must take the academy's screening test. Officials declined to describe the requirements, but provided a statement saying the test was a "24-hour physical and mental exercise, which includes both team and individual physical activities and assessments."
The standards won't change for women, said Vice Adm. Walter "Ted" Carter Jr., the academy superintendent.
"There won't be two tests," he said.
The screening tests are held in the fall and spring for junior midshipmen. About 60 mids who pass the tests are sent to a three-week evaluation at the Naval Special Warfare Command, in Coronado, California.
About half of those midshipmen are approved to enter SEALs training upon graduating from the academy. The notoriously difficult SEALs school is known as BUD/S, Basic Underwater Demolition training.
"We know there's interest, but no (women) have come forward and said, 'I want to go,'" Carter said.
Still, he's confident female midshipmen would succeed in BUD/S, he said.
The Naval Academy's male graduates maintain about a 90 percent success rate, Carter said. Meanwhile, some 80 percent of outside candidates fail the training, he said.
If the first female SEAL comes from Annapolis, she would be the latest in an history of pioneering women.
Marine Corps Capt. Katie Higgins, a 2008 graduate, broke another gender barrier in March, when she became the first woman to fly with the Navy's elite Blue Angels.
In 2010, the academy graduated the first class with women to serve on submarines.
The first women arrived at the academy in the Class of 1980. Abut 80 women entered and 55 graduated.
Today, women make up about 27 percent of the academy, the highest in school history. Female applications for next year are already higher than this time last year, Carter has said.
The prospect of female SEALs has caused minor interest among the brigade, said Midshipman Jenna Westerberg, the brigade commander, of Grayslake, Illinois.
"There's a general buzzing," she said.
Women's firsts in the Navy and Marine Corps
1862: Sisters of the Holy Cross served aboard the USS Red Rover, the Navy's first hospital ship.
1917: Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels approved enlisting women on March 17, weeks before the U.S. entered World War I.
1918: Some 35,000 women served in the armed forces during World War I.
1943: Capt. Anne Lentz became the first woman officer in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve.
1950: For the first time in history, Marine Corps Women Reserves were mobilized for the Korean War reaching a peak strength of 2,787.
1953: Secretary of Defense George Marshall established a committee on women in the service because of low recruiting numbers.
1954: More than 1,000 women served on duty in Korea during the Korean War.
1961: Lt. Charlene Suneson reported for duty on board USS General Mann and became the first line woman to have shipboard duty. Berta Peters Billeb became the first female Marine promoted to Sergeant Major.
1970: Capt. Alma G. Ellis became the first woman line officer assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy as director of the academy museum.
1972: Lt. Cmdr. Georgia Clark became the first female naval officer faculty member at the academy.
1972: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo Zumwalt allowed women to be assigned to noncombatant surface ships.
1973: The first coed class graduated from Navy Officer Candidate School. Rae Jean B. Goodman was appointed as the first Naval Academy female civilian faculty member. The first four women were chosen for flight training at Pensacola. Some 7,500 women served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War.
1974: Lt. Barbara Allen became the first Navy woman pilot to earn her wings.
1976: Congress mandated that women be admitted to the service academies including the Naval Academy. Some 81 women took the oath in July.
1978: Brig. Gen. Margaret Brewer became the first Marine Corps flag officer.
1980: The first class of 54 women graduated from the Naval Academy, 51 percent of whom became career officers.
1981: The first enlisted women were assigned as surface warfare specialists.
1990: Rear Adm. Marsha Evans was the first woman to command a naval station, Treasure Island. Lt. Cmdr. Darlene Iskra was the first Navy woman to command a ship, the USS Opportune. Cmdr. Rosemary Mariner became the first woman assigned to command an aviation squadron.
1991: Some 41,000 women served overseas during Desert Storm.
1992: Navy strengthened its zero-tolerance policy toward sexual harassment. Midshipman Julianne Gallina became the first woman brigade commander at the Naval Academy.
1993: Congress repealed the law preventing women from serving on combat ships.
1995: Cmdr. Wendy Lawrence became the first Navy woman in space aboard space shuttle Endeavor.
1996: Lt. Gen. Carol Mutter became the first Marine Corps female officer to wear three stars and only the second woman in history of the armed services to do so.
2004: Mary DeCredico was appointed the first female vice academic dean at the Naval Academy.
2006: Capt. Margaret Klein became the first female commandant of midshipmen at the Naval Academy.
2010: Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus approved women to be assigned to Ohio class submarines. Rear Adm. Michelle Howard is the first female Naval Academy graduate to achieve flag rank. She is also the first woman to serve as commander.
2015: Marine Corps Capt. Katie Higgins becomes the first women to fly with the Navy's elite Blue Angels.
Source: Naval Academy Public Affairs
https://www.military1.com/training/article/1564843014-naval-academy-plans-to-send-first-women-to-seals-training
