The Navy has removed a YouTube video posted on May 23 shot aboard the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. Nothing in the video compromised operational security, but officials were worried about the "lack of propriety" involving the safety equipment, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the San Diego-based Naval Air Forces command. Navy commanders have counselled the airman who produced it, said Brown. "The video was a lighthearted and positive depiction of the service of women officers and sailors aboard aircraft carriers and in Navy squadrons."
Set to a tune by country singer Shania Twain, the theme is that women serving aboard the Reagan can do the same jobs as men. Until 1994, the Pentagon barred women from serving on combat ships. The video, titled "Women of CVN76: "That Don"t Impress Me Much,"" was shot by an airman and not sanctioned by the ship"s commanders or the Navy. It includes fleeting shots of the door to the ship"s nuclear power plant and of a sailor dancing while wearing a full-body radiation suit. Under Pentagon rules, images of any part of a ship"s nuclear plant cannot be shown to foreign nationals.