There were no ladies onboard ships when I was in the Navy........none. But, years later, there were/are, but each Fleet had to reconstruct their ships to accommodate women. And, from a documentary on the Military Channel, there were numerous problems between Sailors and Waves when that happened. And, there are ladies that pretty much refuse to talk about their military years. My wife worked for one, a 1st Class Storekeeper/Navy that was her boss at a corporate bank office. We happened to see her shopping at Walmart and I brought up that I was also in the Navy, but when I asked her about her time in, she simply said "I've got to get going" and that was that. Had another lady, living in the same apt. complex we lived in in Florida, that had been in the Navy. Again, she refused to talk anything about her years in. Now, we did meet a former Army Lt. Colonel who had been in-charge of a MASH unit in Vietnam. She was interesting to talk to, but didn't get too in-depth about what she did. And, I met a female Lt Commander in Jacksonville, FL who was very interesting to talk to. Of course Jacksonville is very well known for the Navy as in, Mayport Naval Station and NAS JAX. Any ladies on this forum spend time in any military service?
Also, when I was in the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan for a knee injury, I met a female Marine. She wasn't the best looking female I'd ever met in my life, but she sure was nice. After I recovered from my injury, we went to a movie together. That was it. I got shipped back to the U.S. and her...........don't know. Can't remember if she was a patient or worked at the hospital.
I still believe that women shouldn't serve in front-line combat. On ships, they should have ships "manned" by all-female crews, except for aircraft carriers and hospital ships. Small ship with mixed crews seem to have a variety of problems and may be, in part, the reason the U.S. Navy's proficiency is so low. Mixing in the Air force is not as much an issue as in the other services. There are many jobs that can be performed by women for which they are perhaps better suited than men, and those areas should be better rewarded than they are, such as logistics. No military unit can fight without supplies of all kinds.