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Eric Smith
Eric Smith

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Co-Ed Crew: Reality vs. Taboo

We can’t have both chastity and mixed-sex complements. So what’s the priority—a combat-ready Fleet or gender diversity?
By Captain Kevin Eyer, U.S. Navy (Retired)
October 2012
Proceedings
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It would not serve any purpose to describe the perfectly acceptable behaviors that characterized a sailor’s life in foreign ports as late as the early 1990s. Suffice it to say the standard was often profligate, and not only was this common, but often encouraged. This is not to say that there were not many who behaved with sobriety, virtue, and decorum, but that was very much a personal decision, and it was not called “The Wild Western Pacific” without reason.

Deployments, with the exception of the infrequent, handwritten letter, meant a virtual absence of connectivity with “home.” Men worked hard and played hard; they were remote, both physically and psychologically, and the cheerful match to this combustible mixture was the more laissez-faire attitude of the time. What you did on the beach in the Philippines was of little interest to the Navy, provided you didn’t get into trouble with the local authorities. It seemed the idea was that if you were old enough to die in combat, you were old enough to make your own decisions as to how you enjoyed your liberty.

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