A British-born navy submarine commander is in deep water among women's groups after suggesting that female sailors would help recruitment if they posed in bikinis.A preview of the interview in question is here. Dave Barry put out a great book a few years ago talking about the difference between men and guys; it looks to me like this CO definitely falls on the "guy" side of the divide. I've always like the "guy"-type submarine COs better, so I'm hoping that this guy is able to ride the storm out.
Politicians and feminists have joined in condemning 37-year-old Commander Tom Phillips, who joined the Australian navy in 1990 as a Seaman Officer.
Appointed to the 'hunter-killer' submarine HMAS Farncomb last year, Commander Phillips went even further by suggesting that the submariner's equivalent of the notorious 'mile high club' for people having sex on a plane was the 'going down club.'
Commander Phillips made his remarks in an interview in a raunchy men's magazine, Ralph, and navy officials are now scrambling to defend him by insisting his remarks were totally tongue in cheek and not meant to be taken seriously.
At the risk of having the comment thread get totally out of control, are any of you members of this hypothetical "going down" club, or have you heard stories of someone who is? Let's limit any possible discussion of the best locations for initiation into the club to duty day / dependent cruise types of situations. (Hypothetically, for an officer, I imagine that a Stateroom during a duty day when you're singled up and your wife comes down for dinner would be the most likely place for this to happen.)
