It has been six months since the Navy removed one of its final gender barriers and allowed women on submarines, and the transition has been smooth. The first 25 women to serve on subs say they have encountered little trouble in the early stages, according to the Kitsap Sun.
Among the groundbreaking soldiers is Lt. j.g. Megan Bittner, who is stationed on the submarine the USS Ohio. Aside from the grueling training she and other sailors receive, 24-year-old Bittner says both men and women have adjusted to the change in a relatively easy fashion.
"It was quick. There were no big problems," she told the newspaper. "No stumbling blocks along the way. It was just learning as a junior officer how you fit on the boat."
Allowing women to serve on submarines is not the only place where the military's gender regulations have changed course. Most recently, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta opened up a number of new positions to female soldiers that would put them alongside infantry troops, according to USA Today.
The policy shift is long overdue, many say. Over the last 10 years, more than 275,000 women have been deployed and 130 have been killed in battle.