Not For Fashionistas
The Navy has countless pages of strict rules for hairstyles, especially when it comes to women in the service.
They can't be “outrageously multicolored or faddish” and ponytails and pigtails “are not authorized.” The Navy is definitely not for the stylish woman.
Banned From Submarines
Submarines are probably one of the most known boats of the Navy. The US Navy had a ban on women in submarines up until just recently, in 2010. Now, there are about 80 female officers in submarines.
However, this has come with some trouble, as the cramped quarters does not offer privacy. The Navy is now redesigning the vessels to make sure women have privacy.
Top Secret Operations
The Navy SEALs (SEa, Air, and Land) is an elite special forces unit that has one of the most grueling physical screening tests out there. The actual training itself is seven months long!
When it comes to the actual operations, everything is top secret, including operations that are already finished and done with.
NCIS Is Real
Although you probably think NCIS is a made up organization, its not. They handle handle issues of counter-terrorism, cyber warfare, and counter-intelligence.
Although it is naval in nature, half the people who work there are actually civilians. They work in at least 140 locations around the world.
Pull-up Inequality
The Marine Corps physical fitness standards involve doing pull-ups. Both men and women had to do them, but women only had to do 3. Over half the female recruits failed out after not being able to hit that standard.
The standards were then changed- women only have to do a flexed arm hang, however they still have the option to do pull-ups for extra points.
Special Uniforms
Being pregnant in the military can be tough! Women who play important roles go home for a period of time. They are required to stay onboard a ship until 20 weeks into the pregnancy.
After that amount of time, they develop a sizable baby bump, which means they cannot comfortably fit into their tucked in shirt. The Navy actually made maternity uniforms that are more comfortable, but are still acceptable as uniforms for the armed forces.
Pregnancy Complications
Although the military tries to be as accommodating as possible with pregnancies, by giving time off for maternity and paternity leave, and fashioning uniforms for pregnant women has caused some trouble. Many women who are on active duty are on boats around the world, and they need to be airlifted off of boats, which is very expensive.
Not to mention the pregnancy can take this trained worker away for a long time, leaving a gap on the ship.
Life Off-Base
Just because you're in the Navy doesn't mean you are always stuck on a ship for 4 years. The boats sometimes dock in major cities for Fleet Week, where servicemen and women get to enjoy the attractions of the city.
You also get vacation days, where you can go home and hang out with your family. Navy sailors earn 30 paid days of vacation, and even have rollover from year to year.
Model Behavior
How hard is the Navy SEALs training? Model, Lauren Berlingeri, decided to found a YouTube series called Woman Versus Workout, where she tries different styles and regimens of exercise.
On a three-part episode, she tries a Navy SEAL routine, including a grueling 24-hour-long exercise, run by former SEALs. She did relatively well, and the boys were impressed that, depending on the exercise, she could keep up.
Training Is Torture
There was a lot of talk about waterboarding, a controversial technique employed by the CIA during interrogations of terrorists. Some consider it torture, as it causes the sensation of drowning, and can actually cause death. However, for certain elite military personnel, this scary technique used to be a routine part of training.
It is reported that the Navy SEALs used to do it, but had to phase it out. It is undergone by SERE, a program that teaches survival skills to soldiers.
The Real Top Gun
During the Vietnam war, the Communist forces were somehow evading air-to-air missiles shot by United States fighter pilots. To combat this, the Navy put together what is now called the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program, which is more popularly known as Topgun.
The popular 1986 Tom Cruise film brought this program to the public’s attention.
What’s In A Name
Since the early 19th century, the person in charge of naming Navy ships is the Secretary of the Navy. Every ship must start with USS, which stands for United States Ship.
Everyone gets a chance to contribute names that have some national or historical significance to the Naval Historical Center. When a name is approved that pays homage to a person, the oldest female descendant of this person gets the unique opportunity to christen the ship.
Dogfight
There are some recruits to the Navy SEALs who really put the “special” in special forces. These are the dogs that accompany the SEALs on their missions, including skydiving.
The breed chosen is the Malinois because they are known to be very smart, and they can be trained to sniff out dangerous items like explosives.
Ban On Combat
For the longest time, women have had to fight to be fighters. In 2015, the Defense Secretary Ash Carter decided that women would be allowed to do all combat positions.
This decision got a lot of flack from high ranking brass, who wanted to have exclusively men be the ones who had their boots on the ground.
Sheer Quantities
The United States military overall has about 1.4 million soldiers on active duty. Of those, about 15% are women.
This includes 53,000 women in the Navy, and 14,000 in the Marine Corps. There are 21 female Admirals in the Navy, and one lone female general in the Marine Corps.
Disappointing Start
After the historic lifting of the ban on women in certain combat positions, there has been a flood of women who have come forward to enlist. One of the hardest units is the Navy SEALs, who are some of the physically and mentally fittest in the world.
One woman signed up to be part of the SEAL Officer Assessment and Selection program but dropped the course after a few weeks.
Pixels
The Navy uses a pixelated camouflage for some of their uniforms, which is made up of blocky squares. It looks quite strange, and almost computer-esque, but is the best camouflage developed thus far. The pixels are better than old camouflage, because solid lines are less easy to see.
Solid lines and shapes are easily picked up by the human brain, and these pixels have none of that. The Navy will soon switch the color to green by 2019.
Most Aircraft Carriers
Aircraft carriers are absolutely amazing machines that can somehow float on the ocean, and at the same time, allow for take-off and landing of fighter planes. This modern marvel of engineering is done best by the United States Navy. The American fleet is the biggest in all the world, with a whopping 81 aircraft carriers.
The next two are Britain with 54, and France with 15. From there, the list drops off steeply. There are only 20 in service in the whole world, 11 of which are American.
Sydney Prank
Apparently, security on aircraft carriers is not all it is cracked up to be. This was shown in 1957, when 10 Australian college students, boarded the USS Bennington, which was docked in Sydney.
The pranksters were dressed as pirates and announced that the ship was “captured” by pirates.
Connection To Budweiser
There is an unexpected connection between the Navy and Budweiser. If you look closely at the Navy SEALs uniform, they have a pin on it that is called the “Special Warfare Insignia.” There are a couple of proposed reasons that this seal is also known colloquially as the “Budweiser.” Firstly, the training course to become a SEAL is called the “BUD/S” course.
Secondly, the insignia, with its wings, looks like the Anheuser-Busch logo, which is the company that makes the beer.
Fraud Of Seal Team Six
Seal Team Six, who is renowned for taking out the terrorist behind the 9/11 attacks, was first led by a man called Richard Marcinko. He also founded Red Cell, which is an organization meant to find the holes in security systems of the military.
However, he got into some trouble, as he was convicted of defrauding the government when he misused funds when it came to buying supplies. This SEAL team six legend was sentenced to 21 months in Federal prison.
Six Presidents
War is absolutely devastating for millions and millions of people, and should be avoided at all costs. However, looking at the bright side, war provided the opportunity for many young Americans to grow up and become truly experienced in what life is all about.
The Navy has actually produced not one, not two, but SIX future presidents. It is amazing to consider that the people who ran the country were once young folks who had some higher ranking officer yelling at them over small stuff.
Talks Like A Sailor
Once you get a group of people together, whether it is scientists, fraternity members, or the Navy, there is going to be a very distinct jargon that develops. The Navy specifically has so many coded words that come half from old maritime terms, combined with military acronyms. The cafeteria is called the mess deck, which is not to be confused with the deck on top of the boat.
Windows are called portholes. Right and left are not even in common use; rather they are replaced with port and starboard.
Devil Dog
Marines are also colloquially called leathernecks, because they are so tough. Still, they are dog lovers, as the mascot of the Marine Corps is a bulldog. The Marines are also nicknamed “Devil Dogs,” which is why they chose the dog as their mascot.
As the story goes, German soldiers in World War I were frustrated when they fought the Marines, and cursed them, calling them Teufel Hunde. Translated to English, this means devil dogs. One more nickname for a Marine is a “jarhead.”
Martial Artists
Bruce Lee was one person who invented his own fighting style called Jeet Kune Do. In 2001, the Marine Corps made its own as well, called the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program.
It is a blend of many existing styles, like, for example, boxing, kung fu, and krav maga. They have belts, but they do not start at white, like karate, you start with tan, and ascend to black.
Remote Control
Looking at this ship, you might want to guess that 200 sailors are needed to man the controls. However, your estimate would be off by a bit. The real number of people on board this ship is zero!
This destroyer is remote controlled, the way you could use a joystick to control a drone. It is called the Self Defense Test Ship. During drills, attacks will be made on the ship, and the Navy can test the weaponry on board without causing potential harm to sailors on board.
Diving Medicine
The Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force all have to deal with different sorts of fields of medicine. Air Force doctors have to have an understanding of atmospheric oxygen levels.
In a similar vein, the Navy has to understand all the consequences of water pressure and dissolved oxygen in the water.
First Navy Jack
There is a flagpole that is special on each USS boat called the jackstaff, which was added to US Navy vessels in the 1800s. While the boat is docked (and not at sea), the jackstaff flies the First Navy Jack.
This flag has thirteen stripes to represent the original 13 colonies, and has an American rattlesnake on it that says “DONT TREAD ON ME.” The snake is inspired by the Gadsden flag, designed by Christopher Gadsden, an American revolutionary and patriot from South Carolina.
Stealthy Move
One of the coolest, newest ships in the US Navy is the DDG1000, known otherwise as the USS Zumwalt. The ship is designed for stealth. It’s Star Wars Sith shape actually makes it appear like a small blip on radar that might be missed by the enemy.
Funnily enough, the ship is headed by Captain James Kirk. The ship’s shape also helps is glide through the water and slice through waves.
Secret Life Of A Marine
At age 19, Shannon Ihrke joined the Marines. She served her country for four years. She grew a lot, saying she, “pushed her body harder than she]could have ever imagined.” After she left the Marine Corps, she chose to become a model.
Her Instagram has over 72,000 followers. This shows how military training can prepare you for anything.
Fights With Pirates
The Navy was first started back during the Revolutionary War, when America was first declared independent. Unbelievably, the Navy was then disbanded.
Less than 20 years later, though, it was put back into commission by the government to fight pirates. American merchant vessels were being attacked by Barbary pirates, and at first, Congress essentially paid the pirates to keep their ships safe.
Barbara Ives
Barbara Ives grew up listening to her uncles’ war stories from the Navy. She was in the first class of women let into the United States Naval Academy, and she was with 80 other women, among thousands of men.
Since she was in the first class, she experienced terrible issues ranging from non-fitting uniforms with heels that dug into the mud to discrimination. Still served her country for 26 years!
Famous Sailors
There are many famous people who got their start in the Navy. One person was Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca, who served on two ships around the year 1920. Another celebrity who was in the Navy is Stanley Burrell, better known to the public as MC Hammer.
Probably the most notable, though, is Neil Armstrong. Neil flew as a Naval aviator, and his plane was actually fired at and hit by Communist forces during the Korean War. Luckily, he ejected and survived to land on the moon.