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Some of the first female sailors to serve on Navy submarines were secretly recorded while they undressed.

The women were recorded aboard the ballistic missile submarine Wyoming, Gold crew, which is home ported in Kings Bay, Georgia. Navy officials are investigating an unidentified 24-year-old male who is accused of making and distributing the videos, according to a Nov. 14 incident report circulated among the service’s most senior leaders. The sailor was identified only by his rank: second class petty officer.

The videos are believed to show at least three female officers while showering or undressed that were recorded over more than a year, according to a source who has spoken to one of the alleged victims.

via Navy: Women secretly filmed in shower aboard sub.

The incredibly stupid actions of one sailor, a freakin’ petty officer who should know better, are going to cause major pain throughout the submarine community.

The thing that really frustrates me about the women in subs issue is that it is always about what the service can do for women. It is never shown, by any sort of metric beyond “diversity” that adding women to a boats crew will improve the performance or combat readiness.

Here’s another little gem from the article, from a female Lieutenant who served on one of the first integrated crews:

“The only reason I was there was to stop the submariners from being a–holes, and to get the women to stop crying,” she recalled. “I felt like it was fine, but I felt like I was in control of the situation.”

Note, she’s not talking about a 19 year old E-2. She’s talking about commissioned officers crying. As for submariners being a–holes, new, non-qualified sailors are worked to the bone until they earn their coveted dolphins, the qualification badge. Until then, they’re mere apprentices, not journeymen actually adding value to the crew. And the boorish behavior toward them helps weed out those who don’t have the commitment and temperament to  be successful.

To be sure, if the petty officer did in fact videotape the women, that’s both reprehensible, and criminal. And he deserves to get nuked for it. But its a dead certainty that senior leadership will find this a larger narrative, and learn all the wrong lessons, and manage to increase the pain for everyone.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.