Juan Garcia, an assistant to the Secretary of the Navy for manpower, says Secretary Ray Mabus wants a service where opportunities are “gender blind.”  To that end, the Navy is floating the idea of ending gender-specific hats.

“It’s a small thing, but separate covers was in some ways emblematic of a two-tiered sea service force,” Garcia said in an April 10 interview, speaking about Mabus. “He wanted to take a look across the force…to send a signal that our Navy … reward[s] and keep[s] the best talent, regardless of gender.”

Unisex uniforms are nothing new.  In fact, the Air Force recently responded to decades of complaints from females about improperly fitting utility uniforms by doing the opposite thing as the Navy:  specifically creating a female-fit version of the battle uniform.  The Army is reportedly doing the same thing.

The US military can make its troops where whatever they want.  The timing, however — with groups of women suing the military and service academies, charges of sexual impropriety so seemingly common, as well as the repeal of the ban on homosexuals in the service — has led to some criticism.

The first question out the chute was typical of every debate about gender in the military: when is the physical fitness test going to become “gender blind?”  The next was whether women would have to cut their hair like the men wearing the same hats…