Women accept Ever since elementary school, Elizabeth McNamara has wanted to fly.
Coast Guard’s
challenges
Opportunities offered are a draw
for many female service recruitsAT YOUR SERVICE
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comIn 1974, Paula Carroll's son was 3, and she thought it was a good time to get back into the work force on a part-time basis.
When Baby Taule'ale'a graduated from Sacred Hearts Academy in 1999, she had been accepted to several West Coast colleges, but she knew that she just wasn't ready.
They all turned to the Coast Guard because of the opportunities, its mission and the chance to travel.
Today as the nation observes Women's Equality Day, commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, 3,532 women serve in the Coast Guard -- little more than 10 percent of its overall strength of 34,804. On Aug. 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting the women the right to vote.
Since the 1830s, women have been in the Coast Guard serving as keepers in the Lighthouse Service.
It wasn't until 1918 when twin sisters Genevieve and Lucille Baker joined the Naval Coastal Defense that they became the first women to serve in a Coast Guard uniform, some performing jobs traditionally done by men.
The Coast Guard is actually the amalgamation of five federal services starting with the U.S. Lighthouse Service established Aug. 17, 1789, under the control of the Treasury Department. Since then, the operations of the Revenue Cutter Service (custom laws enforcement), Steamboat Inspection Service, Life-Saving Service, and the Bureau of Navigation have been consolidated under one agency and finally transferred in 1967 to the Department of Transportation.
Unlike the other uniformed services the Coast Guard doesn't bar any position to women. For instance, women in the Navy aren't allowed to serve in submarines and special warfare SEAL units.
Although McNamara's father was a Navy P-3 Orion pilot, he suggested that his daughter explore other ways to fulfill her childhood dream.
"He was away for long periods," said Lt. McNamara, a 1996 University of San Diego graduate. In the end, it was opportunities, lifestyle and the type of missions the Coast Guard undertakes daily that won her over.
"You don't go on long missions. It's a peacetime operation, and its missions -- search and rescue and law enforcement -- are what appealed to me," said McNamara, a C-130 pilot stationed at Barbers Point. "You also have the opportunity to get a lot of responsibility at a younger age.
"The Coast Guard had the best opportunities for women. Women were in charge of cutters and air stations."
She received the same type of aviation training as pilots in the Navy and the Air Force getting her gold aviator wings after attending 18-months of flight school at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. Then it was more training to qualify as a C-130 transport pilot.
Capt. Carroll had held numerous jobs, including serving as a ranger at the Haleakala National Park on Maui from 1969 to 1971 before enlisting in the Coast Guard Reserve in 1974. Commissioned 18 months later, Carroll went on active duty where she has served for the past 24 years.
"I was swayed to join the Coast Guard for its humanitarian missions," said Carroll, currently the highest ranking Coast Guard woman in Hawaii (captain), wearing eagles on her epaulets.
For most of her career Carroll has been administrator of the Coast Guard Reserve program. However, on occasion she has been involved in the Coast Guard's marine safety mission and in July 1991 helped in cleaning up the largest oil spill off the coast of Washington at Cape Flattery. The fish processor Tenyo Maru collided with a freighter, and 70,000 gallons of petroleum products were spilled after the vessel sank. Another 350,000 gallons were on board.
Carroll lists as the highlight of her career an assignment as commanding officer of the Vessel Traffic Service at Houston and Galveston, where 350 ships every day navigate the narrow and winding 54-mile-long Houston Ship Channel to call on the Port of Houston -- the nation's busiest petrochemical port area.
Taule'ale'a, 19, had taken the tests for several of the other military services, but finally decided on the Coast Guard after talking to a family friend who is a Coast Guard chief petty officer.
"I was impressed by the opportunities she had," said Taule'ale'a, "and the cool places she has visited. One of the real reasons I joined was to get off this island."
Taule'ale'a says she takes a lot of ribbing when she gets together with her classmates and they learn that she drew a three-year assignment in Hawaii.
But Taule'ale'a doesn't regret enlisting and may stay on for another term.
If she is ever given a chance to visit Sacred Hearts to speak about her decision to enlist, she would encourage the students there "to go for it. There is so much opportunity."
Taule'ale'a is an a electrician on the 378-foot cutter Jarvis, but she also has had training as an emergency medical technician.
"There's so much that you can do in the Coast Guard," Taule'ale'a said. "That's the reason I like it. I still don't know what I want to do, but I know I will have the G.I. Bill when I decide to go to college."
McNamara added, "There is nothing like not knowing what to expect and rising to the occasion to complete a mission."
She recalled that five minutes after arriving at Barbers Point, "the SAR (search and rescue) alarm went off, 'Now put the ready C-130 on the line, Piper Cherokee preparing to ditch 300 miles northwest of Hilo.' This was to be my first SAR case as a newly qualified co-pilot.
"After intercepting the crippled airplane, we were able to talk to the pilot. I relayed proper ditching procedures just as we had done on a training flight a few nights earlier. The crew and I were optimistic based on the info from the pilot that he could make it to Hilo.
"In the meantime we made a plan to drop flares in a row to simulate runway lighting and provide more depth perception for the pilot. Unfortunately the engine seized and the Piper had to ditch at night with no power. I reiterated a good heading for him to fly.
"After they hit the water, we lost all communications. We stayed on-scene as long as possible with another C-130 on the way to relieve us. We couldn't find them in the darkness. The series of events were half experienced on adrenaline, and the realization that two men were still out there hit me overnight.
"I called first thing in the morning and I was elated to hear that they were alive."