Shedding Light on Women in the Navy

Your puff piece about Capt. Deborah Loewer drew my attention (“Captain of Her Ship Blazes a Trail . . . at Sea,” July 2). After reading, it struck me that civilian journalists really don’t understand the military.

From my point of view as a surface warfare officer, women are being given command at sea. I say given because they are assigned the job without having the qualifications and experience required for a male officer to even be considered. My favorite example of this is the appointment of a woman officer to command a warship here in San Diego who had no prior service in any ship of war.

The Navy executive leadership has embarked on this course because officer and enlisted retention are terrific problems, and women in the Navy are seen as the solution.

As far as Capt. Loewer goes, her two working shifts and “dissolving the walls between ship departments” are yet another imposition on the long-suffering crew. She goes off to promotion, while the ship’s force remains behind facing more years at sea with the next “nontraditional” commanding officer. Loyalty down the chain of command is the sine qua non of the leader, but not the manager.

If Capt. Loewer really thinks she was sexually harassed by an admiral who thought he was being “fatherly and endearing,” please spare me the details.

--JIM L. DODD

Lt. Cmdr., USN (retired)

San Diego