“Did you know your husband is living with a female?”
That’s what a fellow Navy wife told me when my husband was deployed to Iraq with his Seabee battalion in 2007. When I was told that husband was living with a female sailor, I wasn’t jealous, nervous or upset. Mostly I was just confused. So I asked my husband about it. He quickly explained that yes, technically he was sharing a space with her (because they didn’t have time to build a separate room for a woman), so they put up a wall to divide the space. That reasoning made sense to me. It wasn’t the Hilton. It was a deployment.
Eight years later, I’m amazed with the number of active duty females I see on base. You can see that the military world isn’t a man’s world anymore. And as the Defense Department facilitates the transition of more females into combat roles, the logistics of a coed fighting force are being ironed out with various trials and experiments. One of those gender-integration experiments is taking place in 29 Palms, Calif.
Marines assigned to the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force are living side-by-side “in tents— regardless of gender— the way a future integrated unit might expect to live during field training or downrange on a deployment.” The Marines chose their tent mate; in this experiment, all the females decided to pair up with another female. There are separate shower facilities.
Related: Carter Says Women in Combat Could Be More Vulnerable to Sexual Predators
Besides completing their typical training, the Marines are also given the opportunity to give feedback about integrated unit cohesion throughout the experiment. These surveys and interviews will be analyzed and published in a study by the Center for Naval Analyses. The study will analyze the “Marines’ perception of the unit as a whole,” according to the Military Times article.
This same article said that “despite the close quarters and privacy challenges, Marines said they settled easily into the arrangement.”
“It was really strange for some people at first,” said Cpl. Kevin Rodriguez, 22, who was directly assigned to a staff position at the artillery unit in the Military Times article. “But now it’s like we’re brothers and sisters. It happened really fast; I was pretty surprised. Now we’re sleeping together on the ground, on the back of the trucks, like it’s normal.”
Normal. As DoD works to incorporate women into combat roles, that’s what we need to strive for, a sense of normalcy. We need to strive for living conditions, coed or not, that feel normal to the service members experiencing these living conditions.
Paul says
Retired Army National Guard. Trained with British. Had no problems with coed arrangement.
Jennifer says
It’s a horrible idea. HORRIBLE. Our troops don’t need sexual distractions. I’m so nostalgic for the days when our military represented honor and morality. It’s all declined like the non-military culture around it. So sad.
Glenda says
I think this is a big mistake. Any time you have men and women living together (unmarried) is sure to cause problems. In women’s quarters they can run around scantily clad and be ok with it, the same with men quarters. But you start mixing them and it is another whole story. What has happened to America’s morals?
James says
What could possibly go wrong with that?
Sarah says
Thank goodness my husband is in the Air Force. I would be furious if my husband was sleeping next to a women while on deployment. Everyone is human and things could lead to the next. I would appreciate our military to respect me, as a airmen’s wife and former Navy girlfriend (same man through it all), to NOT force our soldiers to do this. If other wives are okay with it- let their men but I would not want mine to be in these corders. I not only have to worry about his safety but also if a women would make a move on my husband or vis-versa. I DON’T like it ONE BIT!!!
Mitch says
Believe it or not this is not new when I was a platoon sergeant 20 plus years ago my soldiers lived in the same tents. We used the shelter half or ponchos for privacy, we had no issues and it is all about leadership and respect for your comrades.
Ricky Sessions says
During Desert Storm/Desert Shield I was sleeping between two females. There were many other tents that were both male and female because we were soldiers first. We had a job to do and we did it without one single problem. As long as the Army, Marines, Air Force or Navy personnel know that there are consequences for fraternization or unwanted advances there should be no problem. The only problem that I can see would be coming from the spouses that don’t trust their partners.
romeo russo says
how much money has the military spent since women have gone to sea just in the navy.
they should have left it alone when the women were “waves” a taking up shore duty billets from the men.
they could have fixed that problem a lot easier then the direction they are going.
Mom says
For all the mature adults this type of integration will be no big thing, but I have noticed that in the Marine Corps there is a disproportionate number of immature adults. And I don’t just mean the men! The challenges can be overcome but it will be a long road as the Marine Corps is not really setup for Marines to learn maturity.
Sometimes it feels like you are stepping into a clubhouse. “Boys only” might not be written on the door but Marines as a whole spend a lot of time palling around. I get it they need to bond and being 100% professional wouldn’t make it easy to bond with the type of closeness needed for a deployment. But this type of informality is the reason for most of the hurdles women and men sharing living space will face.
I noticed the marine they interviewed referred to the relationship between the sexes as feeling like brother and sister. What concerns me about that is that there is a level of intimacy associated with that relationship. (I don’t mean sex) but with your siblings you know things about them others don’t, you share their lives, and with brothers and sisters it is the same. The thing is they aren’t siblings, they didn’t grow up together, they didn’t fight over toys or have to babysit each other. The feelings of being close to each other and sharing lives won’t be tempered by memories of annoyances past.
While I believe it is possible and some will have no problem I see the challenges that face both sides and for some it may be a long road to learning how to cope. I think it is right to have women in the military and in combat but I think the Marine Corps has work to do to help its individuals learn how to behave with more maturity and professional courtesies before this scenario is successful throughout the Corps. Good luck Marines I hope the transition is easier than I suspect it will be!
Jack Pipa says
Regardless of the early optimism it will eventually become an unmitigated disaster. Men will always be men and in close quarters for extended periods nature will take its course and Commanding Officers will be swamped with complaints, real or imagined. And once someone is accused it matters not whether innocent or guilty. He/she is finished. Careers will be ruined. Will the politicians never learn? Semper Fi
Ed Bowers says
Stupid doesn’t even begin to describe this attempt. It’s bad enough that they haven’t learned anything from the Navy “experiment”. You will end up with many more single Mom children and the problems that will bring down the road. In a word STUPID!
Karen Mamalakis says
It’s a FACT of f military life and people need to get over it. As military police, I did it in 1989. I never had ONE issue. Women need to be Tough and they will be treated with Respect. I never had one incident where Any sailor treated my disrespectfully!!
Carmen H. says
No !! No co-ed living. That’s asking for trouble.