SHAKO: Women’s History Month 2019, Part III

Women in the Navy.

Here is the third installment of 4GWAR’s tribute to Women’s History Month featuring  photos illustrating the contributions of women in the four armed services. With the exception of one historic first or trailblazer for each service, these pictures focus on women doing their jobs — some dirty, difficult or dangerous — but all essential to keeping the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps ready to defend the United States of America. This week we look at women Sailors.

(Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Spencer Fling)

Sailors celebrate after graduating from Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois on January 4, 2019. Great Lakes, on the western shore of Lake Michigan north of Chicago, is the Navy’s only recruit training  facility, or boot camp. The workload is heavy and the recruits must adjust to a completely new way of life during the eight-week training program. In addition to classroom instruction, recruits spend time learning the fundamentals of small arms marksmanship, seamanship, water survival, line handling, and fire fighting. Long days and intensive training leave the recruits little free time. While male and female recruits train together they have separate sleeping quarters, known as “ships.”

(Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ford Williams)

Navy Seaman Aliyah Smith (above) stands watch aboard the guided missile destroyer USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) as the ship transits the Bosporus, the entrance to the Black Sea, on February 19, 2019.

(Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Markus Castaneda)

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Nia Baker supervises Marines preparing to depart the well deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland (LSD-48) with combat rubber raiding crafts in the Philippine Sea, January 25, 2019.

(Navy photo by Seaman Jarrod Schad)

Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Itzel Samaniego paints an engine cover for an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) in the Pacific Ocean on February 16, 2019.

(Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Justin Whitley)

Petty Officer 2nd Class Brittany McGhee signals an AV-8B Harrier to take off during flight deck operations aboard the USS Boxer (LHD 4), an amphibious assault ship, in the Pacific Ocean on January 15, 2019. Each crewman has a different task on a very busy and noisy flight deck of assault ships and aircraft carriers, depending on the color of their jacket. Yellow jackets are worn by aircraft handling officers (like petty officer McGhee), catapult and arresting gear officers and plane directors.

(Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Anaid Banuelos Rodriguez)

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Ashley Zappier fires an M240B machine gun aboard the amphibious transport dock USS Green Bay (LPD-20) in the Gulf of Thailand, Feb. 17, 2019, during Cobra Gold, a multinational exercise focused on supporting the humanitarian needs of communities in the region.

(Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryre Arciaga)

Navy Seaman Sierra Hogard adjusts the rotations of the ship’s shaft aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) in the Mediterranean Sea on January 2, 2019.

(Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Chandler Harrell)

Navy Hospial Corpsman 2nd Class Victoria Robinson performs a dental examination on Seaman Tyler D’Angelo aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2) in the Indian Ocean on January 21, 2019.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Raymond Maddocks)

Honoring a Trailblazer: Naval aviators participating in a flyover to honor the life and legacy of retired Navy Captain Rosemary Mariner pose for a photo at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia on February 2, 2019. It was the first ever all-female flyover as part of the funeral service for Mariner, a female Naval aviation pioneer. She was one of the Navy’s first female pilots, the first to fly a tactical (jet attack) aircraft and the first woman to command a naval aviation squadron. Captain Mariner was a leader of the organization Women Military Aviators. In 1992, she worked with members of Congress and a Defense Department advisory board to overturn laws and regulations keeping women from combat.

Enter a caption

U.S. Pacific Fleet Band musicians, male and female, perform during a celebration at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii on February 27, 2019. Navy Musicians attend the Armed Forces School of Music, located in Little Creek, Virginia, for 21 weeks. The active duty Musician rating requires a 48 month (4 year) minimum enlistment contract.

*** *** ***

SHAKO is an occasional 4GWAR posting on military history, traditions and culture. For the uninitiated, a shako is the tall, billed headgear worn by many armies from the Napoleonic era to about the time of the American Civil War. It remains a part of the dress or parade uniform of several military organizations like the corps of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York.

FRIDAY FOTO (December 7, 2018)

Narrow Margin.

(U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Grant G. Grady)

If you ever wondered how they get Navy fighter jets to and from an aircraft carrier flight deck, this is how they do it — carefully.  Note the roiled waters below indicate the flat top is in motion during this everyday — but still hazardous — operation.

We assume these two F/A-18E Super Hornets are on their way up to the flight deck from the hangar deck since the accompanying caption supplied by the Navy said the sailors were guiding the 24-ton (when fully-loaded) multi-role fighters onto an aircraft elevator.

To get a sense of how quickly these elevators move, check out this short YouTube video from a carrier (USS Abraham Lincoln) tied up in port. To see the process for loading, securing and raising aircraft — while at sea — click here.

This FRIDAY FOTO was taken December 3, 2018 aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Indian Ocean.

FRIDAY FOTO (December 29-30, 2017)

Christmas Watch.

(U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Erika Kugler)

A lone sailor walks across the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), after being relieved from watch duty. The ship is in port in Bremerton, Washington —  where this photo was taken on December 25, 2017 — where the Stennis was preparing for its next deployment.

FRIDAY FOTO (August 26, 2016)

Sailor’s Delight.

U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Noble

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) conducts helicopter operations under a red-streaked sunset during last month’s Rim of the Pacific 2016 maritime exercise in the Pacific Ocean.

Twenty-six nations and 25,000 personnel participated in the exercise.

FRIDAY FOTO (April 19. 2013)

Colorful Landing

U.S. Navy Seaman Isia Washington, an aviation ordnanceman, directs an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 8 — known as the Eightballers — to land on the flight deck aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) underway in the Pacific Ocean, April 10, 2013. 

The Stennis Carrier Strike Group has been deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility conducting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts.

FRIDAY FOTO (April 1, 2011)

Dangerous Foreshadowing

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Grant Wamack

An aviation boatswain’s mate uses a P25 fire fighting truck to put out a simulated aircraft fire during flight deck firefighting drills aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).  Drills like this are a necessity on a vessel carrying scores of aircraft, jet fuel and munitions.

Just four days after this photo was taken 11 people on the Stennis were injured when the engine of an F/A-18C Hornet jet fighter caught fire as it was preparing to launch from the flight deck.  The Stennis, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carrier, was operating in the waters off Southern California conducting carrier qualifications flights at the time of the March 30 accident.

Three sailors remain hospitalized at the San Diego Naval Medical Center. The pilot of the Marine Corps Hornet was unhurt in the incident, which is under investigation. The carrier was not damaged by the blaze. The Hornet was assigned to Marine Attack Fighter Training Squadron 101, based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif.