Ship’s sole female crew takes charge of weapons

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South, of USS Comstock (LSD 45) weaponry division poses with her ‘baby’, the CIWS. – Photo by Aniq Azraei.

KOTA KINABALU: It is one thing to have a woman crew on board a navy ship. It is another to have a woman put in charge of the weapons on board the ship.

Only 24 years old, Second-Class Petty Officer, Gabrielle South, is the only woman out of the 17 member-strong USS Comstock (LSD 45) weaponry division.

Briefing press members during a media tour on USS Comstock (LSD 45), moored at Sepanggar Naval Base, here yesterday, South, who is in charge of the weapons on board the ship, explained one by one the armaments guarding the 609ft-long vessel.

“This is the RAMs – rolling airframe missiles. It can fire 3.5 to five nautical miles, used only for defence and no tactical attacks. These are what we call the distraction weapons, the Nulkas and Chaffs, which we have four units and six units on board the ship, respectively.

“And this is my baby, the CIWS – close in weapon system. It fires 4,500 rounds in a minute. Yeah, it’s pretty neat,” South explained passionately about the munitions on board the 25-year-old USS Comstock.

South has been in the Navy for a little over five years with four years on the USS Comstock.

She joined the Navy as a fire controlman and went through a year and a half of intensive training before embarking the USS Comstock, and is one of three who heads the ship’s weaponry division.

“You have to learn all the different weapons systems in the military and you pick your specialty – which in my case is the CIWS – and then you learn everything there is about that weapon. So if anything happens to the weapon, I have to fix it. Or if there’s a gun jam or anything like that, I’m in charge,” she said.

Admitting to the insignificant number of women in the Navy and Marine forces, South did feel she had to prove her worth as an equal, when she first started on the job.

“When I first got to the ship, it was really hard because I had to constantly prove myself. But now that I’ve been here this long and they know that I can do what they do, they all appreciate it.

“We had to carry 100-pound ammunition, and when I first got here, they were constantly telling me that I can do it by myself. I hurt myself trying to do it, because if I don’t then they’re going to treat me less.

“So I just sucked it up and now I’m strong (laughs)! Now I can carry those ammunition boxes like nothing.”

The men who made her carry those heavy ammunition boxes on her own are now whom she call family.

“At first it was difficult but I got used to it. They all take care of me. I’m like their little sister. I always say I have 17 brothers,” she said endearingly, when asked about her experience.

Working in a male-dominant profession months on end for the past five years however, never made South lose her soft spot for family. Having spent Christmases and New Years nautical miles away from family on board the ship, South admitted that it never got easier.

“I don’t think you’ll ever get used to being away from family. But good thing my family is always supportive of me. My family is really proud of me,” said South, who is the first in her family to join the military.

South opined that not only gender equality matters, it has also been improving, judging by the number of women in the Navy.

“I think that women are just as hard-working and can do just as much as men. We just have to prove it and once we can prove it, we can work alongside perfectly together. Men in my division don’t treat me any different. They treat me as equal and I think that’s the way it should be,” she said.

Describing her visit to the state, South has nothing but nice words to say of the Land Below the Wind.

“The food here is awesome. I went scuba diving and white water rafting. This is a beautiful country. I was on watch and one of the guys brought me kopi-o, in a plastic bag with a straw in it. The other guys were wondering what was I drinking out of a plastic bag… but it really was the best coffee I ever had!”

And South might also have learned a thing or two about the culture in Malaysia.

“They served me food wrapped in paper (she must have meant nasi lemak), and I was like ‘Do you have a fork, and they said use your hands, don’t use your left hand though!’ (Laughs as we explained to her why).