406 WOMAN
Jennifer Detlefsen
Jennifer, when did you begin to voice the desire to join the military? “My freshman year of college, a few months after September 11th. I originally wanted to join the reserves, but was too young; I was impatient to gain some independence, so I decided to enlist in active duty, with a contract that would let me finish my first year of college before going to boot camp.” What part of the military were you a part of and what was the motivator to join that part of the military? “Navy - my dad, Ryan Zinke, was a Navy SEAL commander and I loved the community we grew up in. Also, I wanted to be a Navy Diver, and that program is not available in the other services.”
What was boot camp like? “Just as it is designed to be - frustrating! I was picked immediately to be the "Recruit Chief Petty Officer", or student in charge, of my boot camp division. This was due to my growing up in a Navy family as well as my brief experience with JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) in high school. This meant that I was held somewhat separate from my peers, responsible for any mistakes that the division made, while at the same time given very little credit when anything good happened, either by my "troops" or from the instructor leadership. I was also one of the youngest recruits in the division, and it was a difficult adjustment for some of the older recruits (up to 10 years my senior) to go from their civilian life of adult freedom to being told what to do every minute of every day by a loud-mouthed 19-year-old girl!” “Since I was headed toward the special programs pipeline, I also had to pass a strenuous physical test to secure my spot at dive school. Because of my responsibilities as RCPO, it was very difficult for me to find the time to practice for the test, which involved a swim, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and a 1.5 mile run back-to-back in freezing cold Januaryin-Chicago weather. I finally passed, and as the only person, male or female, in my division going to a special programs school after basic training, I got to wake up extra early (4 a.m.) as many as 3 times a week to participate in special physical training to get myself strong enough to make it through dive school. Those are my fondest memories of boot camp, as these sessions were designed to push me to my absolute limit and beyond.” How high were you able to rise in the military? “I became an E-5, or Hospital Corpsman (Deep Sea Diving Medical Technician) 2nd class, within my 5-year enlistment.” What opportunities for women are there in the military? “So many opportunities abound for anyone looking to join the military. Tuition assistance programs and the new GI Bill are both
Edit or’s Note
fantastic assets for anyone who has the inclination but not the financial resources to go to college. Of course, the traditional reason people joined the military was to travel the world, meet new people and that is still a great reason to join today's Navy. I was stationed in Bahrain, an island in the Middle East, and had plenty of leave time that allowed me to travel in that region.” “Almost every talent and ability has a place in the Navy, from accounting and bookkeeping to the medical field, jobs in the military postal system, secretarial positions, instructor jobs, physical fitness coordinating, electrical engineering, computer programming, communications and information security, language specialist/translator duties - you name it, and you can do it in the Navy.” “The pay and benefits are quite generous for a financially responsible young person, and the resources the military provides as far as on-thejob training, special schools and personal and professional development are unparalleled in the civilian world, in my opinion.”
What obstacles did you face (such as discrimination, etc.)? “Mostly physical and of my own making! It was my decision to pursue a career as a Navy Diver, knowing that Dive school was extremely physically and emotionally demanding. Dive gear is not light, not designed for those of slight build, and it certainly does not come in pink! However, through discipline and a lot of hard work at the gym, I was able to meet the rigorous standards at dive school and graduate as Honor Man of my class. It was hard to prove to my fellow dive students that I had what it took to make it as a diver; but as we say, you can be a strong diver, or a smart diver. They respected that although I would never be the former, I was certainly the latter, and my own essential talent lay in helping my fellow students understand the academic aspects of our school and streamlining my gear so I could "Work smarter, not harder."
p. 13
What do you feel the future looks like for woman in the military? “The future is extremely bright - I am certainly interested to follow the progress of women now serving on submarines, although I can emphatically state that I would never want to be one of them! Women can do just about anything they set their minds to in today's military - my accomplishments are living proof of that. We are treated as equals and have all the resources and opportunities available to us as do our male compatriots.” Tell me something unique or special that happened when you were in the Military. “One day in dive school, during an afternoon physical training session, my class was outside doing pushups and lunge-walking on the parade ground of our school. A middle-school class was on a field trip to the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center, and the tour leader stopped the group in front of our class so that they could observe our PT session. I was, of course, the only girl in my class - and I have never been a particularly imposing physical specimen, preferring books to weights for most of my life. Nevertheless, as the girls and boys watched that day, they saw a 125-pound girl keeping up, push-up for push-up, lunge for lunge, with men twice my weight and strength. That was the first time I realized that I now had a responsibility as a role model to young women, to show them that we can do anything we put our minds to. We formed up for a run, and as I took my usual place calling cadence for the class, I held my head a little higher, and sang a little louder, proud to be a woman in a man's world, holding my own and paving the way for my sisters to follow.”
“It was also a challenge living in the alpha-male community of the diving Navy. Navy Divers do not talk about their feelings, and they expect anyone around them to be able to give and take a good ribbing. The thick skin I developed being "one of the guys" has served me quite well in my civilian life.”
I would not feel closure to this article about these valiant women without mentioning another who served in the military. The Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) was created in July 1939. It was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. As Scotland was being bombed, WAAF Sergeant Margaret Grey Smith (my mother) worked with codes and ciphers in the telegraphic operation room, all for the sake of freedom. The above-mentioned women are so courageous… so much braver than I could ever be.