Making Waves: A Woman in This Man's Navy Review

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(More customer reviews)Johnson captures the essence of what it was like to be a woman in the navy in the early 1970's -- having fun, yet encountering obstacles (usually in male form -- crusty old chief, a commanding officer who thinks women should be making babies, cat-calling marines) at every turn. In this autobiographical account, Johnson details her decision to enlist & escape Ohio, her experience at bootcamp, journalism training, her first duty station at NATO's SACLANT headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia (where she made many pots of coffee), her next assignment at Clark Air Base in the Phillipines (where she lived with a fellow sailor & his Filipina wife and children off-base), and her subsequent assignment to an aviation squadron. The tale ends when Johnson decides to apply for Officer Candidate School. Only by reading the book's back cover do I know hat Johnson went on to become a Marine Corps officer -- I wanted the book to continue so I could learn more of her antics. Throughout the book, Johnson describes her relationship with her best friend and shipmate, Lucas, who constantly ribs Johnson about being a "lifer." Like the real navy, Johnson's story isn't all patriotism & spit-shine. She recounts (with great humor) an experience where a female roommate makes a pass at her, gives the lyrics to sexually explicit jodies, and describes an incident where Lucas picks up a nasty little Army sergeant and dumps her in a trash can. The tale is pleasant, humorous, and very easy to read. At times, I found it to be a bit incredible (incidents of blatant sexism and sexual harassment), but then I would guess that much has changed in the Navy and society in the past thirty years.
I would highly recommend this for any female veteran -- anyone who's been there, who has encountered their own version of the evil Sergeant Burke or the lascivious, girlie-tattoed Chief Hatch.

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