Those Who Came Before

50 Stories for 50 Years | Post 34

I was an ignorant, self-important mid.

I can say that now, almost fifty years later. I thought our burden as early women at the Academy was the heaviest one anyone had carried. I was a teenager. Teenagers think that.

The law changed in 1975. Women could enter the Naval Academy in 1976. The Academy knew what that meant, and it began stationing naval officers with strong records on the yard, women who could serve as models.

I did not see them as models. I saw a divide. One line separated officer from midshipman. A second line separated them from us, because they did not have our direct experience at the Academy. I had absorbed the Academy bravado that we had the toughest preparation for the fleet. I could not imagine any of these women had anything to share from their time in the fleet that would help me at the Academy.

They had been there before us. Women had served in the Navy for many decades, commissioned through Officer Candidate School and NROTC. I could not even have imagined the Navy nurses who led the way for all of us. One became the first woman admiral in the Navy’s history, before I ever stepped onto the yard in Annapolis as a teenager. They had already worked out the hard parts.

At the Academy, I remember three women by name.

Major Shelley Mayer, USMC, was discipline and poise in a uniform. She and LT Sue Stephens modeled the midshipmen uniform regulations. Most people didn’t realize that when looking at the old images. The earliest pictures of how we were supposed to look in our official uniform regulations showed female commissioned officers. They had been stationed at the Naval Academy to support the integration of women into the Brigade.

LCDR Carol Harrington worked for the Commandant’s office. We crossed paths at official gatherings and sponsored social events. As a midshipman, I knew who she was and could find her at any event. She was professional, fun, and ready with encouragement. With her height and blonde hair, she was easy to pick out in any crowd.

I really got to know her when we were both stationed in Guam. A few years together, then years apart, and a name and a face come back easily. I was getting out. She was trying to convince me to stay in.

One thing about those women has held true. They were committed to serve, and they made it a career.

There were others I never saw. They stood watch, wrote evaluations, and held the line, and I did not notice. I was busy with my own cross.

So this is late, Commander. It is late, Major and Lieutenant. It is late to every woman who wore the uniform before we did and kept her counsel while an eighteen-year-old looked straight past her.

Thank you. I should have said it then.

If you ever thought you were the first, rest assured someone took a step before you. Someone made the road you are walking.

Who stood a few steps ahead of you and went unnoticed? Look for her name today. Say thanks to her if you can.