I was born after the Second World War on the island of Saipan. My Dad was in the Navy and made it his career for 30 years. I was one of 5 children that my parents had. Except for my Irish twin who was also born in Saipan, they were born all over the world. I was the only one who joined the service. My two brothers were too young to be drafted for Vietnam. I was aware of this war and all my male friends in HS were slowly being drafted for VietNam. By the time I was ready to graduate from college, my mind was made up: I was going to be a Navy Nurse-a Naval Officer. I graduated from the University of Nevada at Reno in 1969. I worked a year at St Mary’s Hospital, Reno, and then in November of 1970, my Dad commissioned me in the Navy Nurse Corps. I went to 4 weeks of OIS in Newport, RI, and then went to my first duty station on NAS Pensacola, Fla.  In 1972 I was selected for the Regular Navy and learned to drop the ”R” after USN. I did that and soon after I was ordered to the Submarine Base in New London, Ct. In December 1975, because I was now married decided to get off active duty and went into the Naval Reserves. That meant I drilled once a month (weekend) at a Reserve Center and did 2 weeks of active duty at a Naval Hospital. I did that until I retired from the Navy after 37 years! I joined the Navy Nurse Corps wearing a white nursing uniform and a nursing cap with my strips on that cap. By the time I retired, I was now wearing cammies and no nursing cap! I never got in the country in VietNam but did get deployed with Fleet Hospital 15 during Mission OD Shield and OD Storm. I was also assigned (ADT) to the Host Nation Hospital in Bahrain when a scud blew up a barracks in Saudi Arabia caring for our troops that were severely injured. When OEF/OIF started in 20003 I was activated to NNMC Bethesda and spent my last 5 years working in the ICU there. In April 2008 I decided to retire and leave the role I so much defined me: Navy Nurse.