Yeoman Petty Officer First Class Susan Acosta nee Greenleaf / United States Navy

“How the heck did you get in here?” was a phrase Susan Greenleaf heard several times during her military service. But it was not for any derisive reason – other Navy personnel were surprised at her physical stature – she stood 4’9 and weighed 90 pounds. She remarked, “I had the distinction of being not just the smallest woman, but the smallest sailor in the Navy! I was below the then-Navy standard for height and weight. I was supposed to be at least 95 pounds. So, before my induction physical, I chowed down on bananas to gain that extra five pounds. Between the bananas, and doing exceptionally well on the written test, they gave me a waiver and passed me on through. But the ‘waiver’ was only about my height and weight. I still had to perform up to par for the physical challenges of basic training. I had to qualify physically and mentally.” Greenleaf chuckled when she remembered the seamstress who had to tailor her uniforms and remarked, “I was quite the challenge for her!”

Susan Greenleaf came into this world on January 1, 1952, and had a tough childhood.. “I went to first grade in Merrimack,” says Greenleaf. “Then we moved to Nashua, and my brother and I ended up in a children’s home for a while.” While at the children’s home, she attended the Amherst St. School. My mother and father both married and divorced a couple of times so we had a very mixed family full of half and step siblings.”

Greenleaf then lived in Nashua’s French Hill area for a time, attending the Mount Pleasant grade school, then moved to Nashua’s south end where she attended Fairgrounds Elementary School, Fairgrounds Jr High, and eventually Nashua High School on Elm St,. leaving school in her junior year. She later earned her GED, as this was a prerequisite to join the Navy.

After leaving high school, Greenleaf worked at Almy’s department store at the Nashua Mall for a time, but then wanted a fresh start for her life. “Joining the military seemed to be the right choice for me,” she remembered. “I loved the Air Force uniforms and tried to enlist, but did not meet the height requirements… and they wouldn’t budge. Some jobs evidently just simply required a certain height. My next stop was the Navy recruiter. Before I knew it, I was in the Navy. And after living such a dysfunctional family life for 18 years, the military life seemed… almost magical.” She passed her GED test in September 1970 and took her military oath on October 2, 1970. Greenleaf’s first stop was at the US Naval Training Center in Bainbridge, MD, for 10 weeks of basic training.

Prior to the end of her basic training, she was required to complete what was called a “Dream Sheet.” This was where a recruit got to tell the Navy where they wanted to serve. Greenleaf says, “I told them I wanted to go to Hawaii… as far away from my prior life as possible. And why not Hawaii? What’s the worst that could happen – not send me there? Ironically, I didn’t go far from Nashua!”

Her duty stations included:

1970-1972 – Naval base, Newport, RI  – After going through basics, Greenleaf was assigned to on-the-job training in Newport, RI for to learn Naval clerical and administrative duties. For her first duty station, she stayed in Newport, RI, working in a “Separations Office” processing Navy personnel who were being discharged. She commented, “We processed guys coming back from Vietnam, guys reaching the end of their hitch, guys leaving for medical reasons… we processed everybody.” This is also where, in January 1971, Greenleaf met, and married her husband, Juan Acost,a who was also serving in the Navy. They were married in July 1971. (Hereinafter for the purpose of this profile, she will be referred to as Susan Acosta.)

It’s been said that for every service member who fires on or otherwise engages the enemy, there are nine people behind them providing support of some sort or other. There is also a saying that goes, “If it isn’t in writing, it never happened.” Susan Acosta personified those two axioms in her Navy service, allowing other Navy personnel to engage the enemy and getting the paperwork done to document it.

Her official Military Occupational Specialty was “Yeoman – Ship’s Secretary.” Throughout her career in the Navy, she would be responsible for processing paperwork at various levels, for different Commands at US bases, and the Republic of Panama. In several cases, she was able to train with combat personnel, but never allowed into a combat situation. She spent a fair amount of time in Norfolk, VA. She commented, “Norfolk is the largest Navy installation in the world. It wouldn’t be hard for someone like me to spend an entire 20-year career there, moving from Command to Command.”

Acosta explains the then-situation for women in the Navy, “Female Naval personnel at that time were still known as WAVES, an acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. It’s an idea left over from WWII and lasted through Korea and the Vietnam War. The original purpose during WWII was to free up male Navy sailors to go into combat while the WAVES took care of the paperwork and performed other technical duties. The concept of the WAVES finally ended in 1974 with the end of the Vietnam War.” Acosta remembered some of her sailor friends had some fun with her about being a WAVE, “They said I was so small I couldn’t be a full WAVE – I was only a Ripple.”

1972 – 1979 – In the fall of 1972, Acosta found herself married and pregnant. At that time, female personnel, married or not, who found themselves pregnant were asked to make a quick exit. In Acosta’s case, she was allowed to stay a little longer than most. She even got to process her own active-duty discharge paperwork and left the Navy, ending her first hitch, on December 4, 1972. During this time, Acosta’s first son, Michael, was born in 1973.

Acosta was then “promoted” to being a Navy wife, following her husband when he was transferred to a duty station in Bermuda. It was there that Acosta gave birth to her second child, Douglas, in 1975. They then returned to the Norfolk area, where she worked at a civil service job at the Naval Guided Missile School in Damneck Training Base in Virginia Beach, VA. She worked in the technical library, requiring a top-secret clearance.

1979 – Acosta joins the Naval Reserve.

1979 – 1983 – Little Creek Amphibious Base / Norfolk, VA / Shore Intermediate Maintenance Activity (SIMA) It was here that Acosta started her career as a reservist, with two weeks of training per year and one weekend per month.

1983 – 1987 – Panama Canal Acosta’s husband received orders to the Republic of Panama, and Navy wife/reservist Acosta followed with their children, residing at Howard Air Force Base. She located the Reserve office and affiliated with Port Services Detachment 210 as her unit to drill with on Rodman Naval Station. What a view. At the mouth of the Panama Canal, watching as ships entered and exited under the Bridge of the Americas. During her mandatory two-week active duty at the Naval Personnel Office, a need for additional clerical assistance emerged from Operation Big Pine II in Honduras. Acosta volunteered for an additional 180 days at the personnel office, being the first Reservist to utilize the TEMAC (Temporary 180-Day Active Duty Program) in Panama. Once this contract was completed, she returned to her unit and found that the only person responsible for processing Reservists’ pay and upkeep of their service recordshad suffered a stroke. Again, Acosta volunteered to run the Reserve office functions every day, in a non-pay status, for several months, until another TEMAC was granted. This continued for another two years of 108-day contracts. She became the Petty Officer in Charge (POIC) of the local Reservists’ Central America, South America, and Caribbean Reservists needing assistance. When it was time to depart Panama, Acosta trained several unit members to take over the duties she had done as one person. She returned to Virginia Beach to her former reserve command.

1987 – 1990 – Reservist Refresher Course, Recruit Training Command, Orlando, Florida Acosta was recalled back to full-time active duty under the TAR Program. (Training and Administration of Reserves) She volunteered, not knowing what command she would be assigned to after completing 10 weeks of physicals, training, and testing. Her order sent her to an all-male command.

Special Boat Squadron TWO / Little Creek Amphibious Base / Norfolk, VA – This command, from Navy Special Warfare Command, specialized in riverine warfare tactics with small boats, Rubber Inflatable Boats (RIBS,) and various weapons used mostly with the Navy SEALS. She was the first woman to report to a compound occupied by three commands, consisting of close to 300 active duty and Reserve male personnel.

Acosta remembered showing up for her first day with the group; “I reported to the quarterdeck and presented myself for duty. The duty officer said, ‘You must have the wrong command. We don’t have any women here.’ So, I pulled out my orders and said, ’Yep… I’m in the right spot! Reporting for duty as ordered, sir!’” To be part of that group, Acosta needed to be outfitted with camo clothing and combat boots. The boots were a special challenge. She remembered, “I wore a size 2 in women’s shoes. The smallest size the Navy stocked was size 5’s. So, I had to wear size 5’s with two pairs of heavy socks until they could make me some size 2’s.”

One highlight of this duty station was earning her marksman’s medal with a 9 mm handgun. Acosta said, “The gun’s frame was pretty big. Having small hands, I could not hold it single-handedly. But holding with both hands, I was a pretty good shot – good enough to get a marksman’s medal. The guy standing next to me on the range, I remember, was big guy who complained about everything and couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. I don’t know what happened to him, but I never saw him again.”

Acosta still worked in the administrative office for the Boat Squadron, but was able to join in some training maneuvers with the group. She said, “They used the Sea Fox watercraft, a fast, small, high-quality boat, designed for saltwater use.” The Squadron was an elite group, comprised mostly of Navy SEALS… and they simply did not like having a woman working amongst them. Subsequently, and unfortunately, Acosta became the subject of some harassment. Acosta explains, “One time I got a knock on my office door. When I opened the door,I found a box, opened it, and a large snake jumped out. Another time, I came into my office to find a small box sitting on the copy machine. I opened the box and there was a dead mouse. Sometimes, when they would return from a training mission and needed a shower, they would take their shower, then walk naked around the compound. They so wanted me to transfer out, but I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. I was there to complete a mission – I never complained, and kept moving forward.”

This was also the period where Acosta earned the designation of TAR, which stands for Training Administration of Reserves, which returned her to active military status. From that point forward until her military retirement, her personnel designation would be USNR(TAR).

1990 – 1991 – FICEURLANT Fleet Intelligence Command Europe and Atlantic / Naval Base / Norfolk VA

1991 – 1992 – Atlantic Intelligence Command / Naval Base / Norfolk, VA – This was the combination of intelligence information from all military branches.

1992 – 1995 – EOD Mobil Unit 10 / Explosive Ordnance Disposal / Fort Story, Virginia Beach, VA – Acosta noted, “Interestingly, this was on an Army post. But this may have been the only facility that had the assets that the explosive teams needed to train. This was located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The teams worked on underwater explosive detection. One team would find the explosive devices, another team would go down to disarm them.”

It was about this time that the Navy was trying to “re-imagine” what to do with their female members since the term WAVE, and its original reason for existing, had long since expired. Acosta comments, “I think it was because of this, I missed several opportunities for promotion. I don’t think the brass knew what to do with me and the other women. It seems I was their guinea pig. However, I did make Sailor of the Year five times at five separate commands. This meant that I outperformed my peers and made a significant contribution to the mission.

Her commendation read: “The U.S. Navy Sailor of the Year program recognizes high-performing enlisted Sailors who exemplify the Navy’s ideals of professionalism and dedication. At each new command, YN1 Acosta adapted quickly to each command’s administrative mission in addition to her collateral duties and was selected as their Sailor of the Year at five separate commands.”

1995 – 2000 Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center / Orlando, FL – Acosta remembers, “Here I helped manage the paperwork and records for some 1,400 Navy reservists. We had to keep track of their training and their pay, among other things. We shared the facility with the Marines, but we had the bigger contingent of reservists and 30 administrative people. Those 1,400 reservists were first divided between three weekends per month. Then we had to get it done in two weekends. Even though the reservists were only there for a weekend, the paperwork, to document what they did, and plan what they would do the next time, kept us busy all the time.”

2000 – 2003 Naval Reserve Recruiting Command / Orlando, FL – Acosta explained her job at this duty station: “Here we monitored Navy recruiting across eight states and Puerto Rico. We promoted civilian sign-ups for reserves and monitored the numbers for individual recruitment offices.”

Her husband of 29 years, retired QMC Juan Acosta (A US Navy QMC is a Chief Petty Officer senior NCO with a rank of E-7, in the quartermaster rating) passed away suddenly in November 2000.

Acosta’s detailer called to offer her another duty station, as her time in Orlando was nearing an end. With a new grandchild, her adult sons, and her home in the area, she opted to end her career after 25 years of service to be with her family.

Acosta’s final discharge from the Navy was January 31, 2003. She said, “I was always proud of the uniform I wore, and the job I did for my country. It was a wonderful and exciting career.”

Today, Susan Greenleaf Acosta and her partner of 14 years, Jim Sterzinar, are happily retired and living in Central Florida.

• Acosta’s Awards and Commendations include the following:
• Joint Service Commendation Medal (1 Award)
• Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (1 Award)
• Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal (8 Awards)
• Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal (1 Award)
• Good Conduct Medal (4 Awards)
• Naval Reserve Meritorious Service Medal (3 Awards)
• National Defense Service Medal (3 Awards)
• Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal (1 award)
• Navy/Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon (2 Awards)
• Navy Reserve Service Ribbon (1 Award)
• Armed Forces Reserve Medal (2 Awards)
• Navy Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon (Sharpshooter Award) 9MM
• Recruiting Command Of Excellence Badge (9 Awards)
• Besides her normal administrative duties, Petty Officer Acosta was assigned additional collateral duties and attended specialized training in the following courses:
• Drug And Alcohol Program Advisor Course
• Command Financial Specialist Course
• Legal Clerk Course
• First Class Leadership Course