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August 28, 2003
WHY?!
Talking to an internet friend about her upcoming move to the Philippines made me realize how interesting my time in the military has been. In preparation for retirement in a couple of years, I would like to share some sea stories.
I have no earthly idea why I joined the military. Even after pondering it all these years, my best guess was that I was afraid of the future. I joined the Navy in the middle of my senior year of high school. Over the Christmas holidays, I had suddenly been faced with the realization that I was not prepared to go to college nor could my family or I afford it. I mentioned my idea to join the military to friends but it was met by disbelief that a girl would want to do that. See, in my town, girls either went to college or they flipped burgers until they got married and had kids. What else was there?
I went to the local recruiting office for the Air Force. I picked the Air Force because, I liked the flight attendant idea and their uniforms were pretty. Oh and my dad was Navy. A small little rebellion. The Air Force recruiter ended my desire to join the AF within about ten minutes by flat out stating that there was nothing for women in the military and they should not even be allowed to join anyway. Harrumph. Now, I wasn?t as outspoken and assertive back then as I am now but I knew enough to be indignant about this.
So I walked next door to the Navy office and had the good fortune to meet Dwayne Black and Tom Porath. Both were near to retirement and on a mission to pull out the stops to make sure I got what I wanted. I had no idea how fortunate I was until I went to boot camp and heard the horror stories of recruiters who screwed people over in order to make their monthly quota. I was fortunate because, I never read a single paper they had me sign. I tested fairly high on the military entrance exam (ASVAB) and ended up picking Hospital Corpsman over Cryptology Technician.
Since I was 17, my mommy signed on the dotted line and on February 23, 1983, I was officially IN!
Posted by DebC at August 28, 2003 7:55 PM