My Mother Was a Surface Warfare Officer
July 15, 2015
FIRST, the military has to change almost everything to let women in. And then it has to change everything else to prevent them from leaving. They want in and then they want out.
The problem is, the Navy does not accommodate motherhood, writes Lt. Mary Witkowski. Things are so bad, Lt. Witkowski says, she is redirecting her elite Naval Academy training, which she obtained at public expense and for which she arguably displaced some man who might have stayed much longer and supported a family while doing so, to find a job in the public sector that is more congenial to daily child neglect. (She doesn’t mention it, but getting rid of that dreadful uniform would be nice too.) “It’s the pre-ordained military schedule that can make Navy life and motherhood so hard to balance,” she says. Children do get in the way, don’t they? She advocates more flex time and telework. That’s interesting. I did not realize you could be a surface warfare officer by phone. Can you be a submarine commander and cook dinner at the same time? I have to admit, that would be very cool and then women would finally have it all. Men could find something else to do.
Lt. Witkowski writes: “To stop the flow of talented women out of the Navy, we must stay focused on why these women are leaving. Only then will the military be able to retain the intelligent, motivated, and experienced women that are helping it to thrive.” Jawohl, Lieutenant! We must stay focused! Our mission is to destroy American families one feminist step at a time. We will accept nothing less.
One major motivating factor is not mentioned in Lt. Witkowski’s analysis: MOOLA.
Families used to survive on one military income. Why does Lt. Witkowski want to leave this cute little button of a daughter?
— Comments —
Terry Morris writes:
“Why does Lt. Witkowski want to leave this cute little button of a daughter?”
It boggles the mind. What boggles the mind even more (at least this mind) is why the other Lt. Witkowski would encourage and support his wife’s choice to do so. (I’m working off of assumptions and playing the odds, of course.)
Laura writes:
There is that factor that goes unmentioned: money.
