Women have been serving in the United States military since WWII.
Back then, they were known as the WAVES and they played an integral part in defeating the Nazi regime.
Women and war
According to the Britannica:
“The Navy WAVES were established in 1942, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Public Law 689, allowing women to serve in the various military branches.”
These women weren’t sent to the front lines, however, and were only allowed to serve in roles such as “clerical jobs, air traffic control, hospital corpsman positions and the like.”
Equal recognition came decades later.
Finally, in 1972, the WAVES was officially disbanded and all women soldiers in the Navy were now considered U.S. Navy soldiers just like the males that they were fighting beside.
Since then, more and more women have chosen to serve. This is great news as it can only benefit our military to have the leadership and skills from both men and women.
Footage of their history is inspiring.
In the first video down below, you can hear and watch more about the history of these first women soldiers and what it took to get to where they are today.
The second video, however, takes a deep dive into what it’s like to be a nurse for the U.S. Navy.
According to the aforementioned website,
“These women and men in the Navy nurse corps are among the best at what they do in the world. These nurses serve on forward deployed aircraft carriers, and shore based facilities as well as on the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships providing the highest levels of medical care for people all over the world.”
The military has cutting-edge medicine.
That means that these nurses are required to be skilled in areas that most civilian nurses have never been trained in as well as in medicine and tactics that haven’t yet reached the civilian sector.
Of course, there are both men and women serving in the Navy nurse corps, but it’s the women that we are focusing on in this article because of their struggle to get to the position that they now have found themselves in.
These courageous women have proven themselves valuable in our military time and again, and in every sense of the word.
Without their bravery, devotion, and skillsets, our nation’s military simply wouldn’t be where it is today.
We’ve reached a point of seemingly endless conflict in our modern world, so the sacrifice and efforts of our military personnel are much appreciated and don’t go unnoticed.
If you’ve ever considered serving your country there are lots of websites and resources that can give you more information on the topic and help you make the most informed decision possible.
Check out both the videos below to dig deeper into the history of women in the U.S. military!
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