My husband and I are proud to announce our 19-year-old daughter's recent career decision: She has enlisted in the Navy.
Our younger daughter (hereafter referred to as YD) was homeschooled from birth on our rural homestead farm. After graduating high school, she started attending college part-time and working part-time in the nearest city, an hour's drive away. She was excelling in both work and school, but as she told us later, "All I could see down the path for years ahead was the same old thing." She was restless to travel and stretch her wings. My husband is a Navy vet, and while over the years he's talked about his time in the service, he never ever suggested it as a choice for either of our girls.
YD started considering the military after attending several college classes with a cadre of vets using their GI bill. She liked them enormously, in large part because they were so refreshingly un-politically correct. These were hardened soldiers in their mid-20s who had seen a lot, yet (despite some strong language) had hearts of gold and treated people with respect. As YD put it, "I've never met a vet I haven't liked."
YD's exposure to college had cultivated her impatience with the snowflake generation she saw around her. This was clinched a few months ago when a (white) female diversity coach went into the campus veteran's center and tried to tell these brawny seasoned soldiers they were only there because of their white privilege. When the vets sent the twit away with a flea in her ear, YD realized they were a special group of people.
After researching the Navy, she told us about her decision. At first the "mother bear" part of me was concerned about her safety (our daughter is petite and barely tops 5 feet in height), but I came to realize she is statistically safer in the military than she is commuting an hour each direction to attend school and work. Gradually, I caught her enthusiasm and came to fully support her decision.
In early May, one day after her 19th birthday, YD made an appointment to see the Navy recruiter. She promised if the jobs she wanted weren't available, she would "walk" and not enlist, at least not yet.
The first thing the recruiter had her do was take a practice vocational aptitude test called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The minimum for getting into the Navy is 35 percent. She scored 85 percent.
Immediately, the recruiters started talking to her about the nuclear engineering program ("nuke"). YD had already looked into this program and decided she didn't want it, partly because of the six-year commitment, but mostly because of the tough working conditions (18-hour days, etc.).
The next step was a two-day overnight sojourn at the regional MEPS (Military Enlistment Processing Station), where she was given physical exams as well as the multi-section ASVAB (covering general science, arithmetic reasoning, word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, numerical operations, coding speed, auto and shop information, mathematics knowledge, mechanical comprehension, and electronics).
This time the ASVAB wasn't a practice test; it was the real deal and would determine what jobs she would qualify for. Two young men from the area who were enlisting scored 60 and 75 percent. YD scored – 95 percent. (This is apparently termed a "nerd score.")
Then came the big moment when they called her in to let her know what jobs were available. They had five or six possibilities on the table, none of them great. She called my husband twice during this process to get his opinion about two of the positions she was offered. None were what she wanted, so she walked.
At least, she walked for about five minutes. One of the positions (called Advanced Electronics Computer Field, AECF) didn't appeal because it had a six-year commitment (two years of school, four years of active duty), and because of that she hadn't investigated it. It's a position requiring higher ASVAB scores, so she was qualified. The work sounded interesting, and she would have the chance to be on a ship, which she wanted. She went back and accepted the post, signed the paperwork and swore the military oath.
However, evidently she made a bigger impression than she realized. Her ASVAB scores rippled up the chain of command and garnered quite a lot of attention from some muckety-mucks in Washington. At a follow-up meeting with the recruiters, they kept trying to persuade her to be a nuke. A female nuke, apparently, is something the Navy really really really really really likes to see. They even offered to bring in a nuke to talk with her about the position. Over the past month, they have repeatedly asked her if she would reconsider.
But the more she investigates the AECF position, the more pleased she is with it – and she has no interest in becoming a nuclear engineer. She leaves after Thanksgiving for boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. After that, she's in school for two years in Great Lakes, and then her active duty begins.
When I announced our daughter's decision on my blog, she received much support as well as some concern, largely centered on the ethics of women in the military. Many expressed alarm that she would lower her moral standards and become sexually promiscuous, which a sad number of military women do.
I have two points to make regarding these concerns. One, if a person has high morals to begin with, they are not likely to disappear because of a career change. And two, our daughter is now an adult. We cannot dictate what she can and cannot do with her life, particularly since her desire to serve her country is an honorable one.
As parents, the best we can do with our children is to teach them to use the tools of faith, self-control, personal responsibility, respect, morals and manners; and when they become adults, we hand them the toolbox. What they do with those tools in the toolbox then becomes their decision.
What I like about the military is it doesn't cultivate anyone's "inner snowflake." It strips away immaturity and victimhood and teaches personal responsibility and self-control. While clearly these lessons don't take root in every soldier or sailor, the odds are better than with the current generation of professional victims currently being mis-educated in universities across the nation.
We wish our daughter the nautical blessing of "fair winds and following seas" as she enters this new phase in her life.
Media wishing to interview Patrice Lewis, please contact [email protected].
|