Petty Officer 2nd Class Gina Wollman, Navy Visual News Service
2010-04-02

USS CARNEY, At sea - 03.31.2010 After more than 14 years of proud service in the U.S. Navy fleet, the guided missile destroyer USS Carney recognizes the first enlisted female crew to call the ship home.

In a crew of 277 Sailors, 33 women have made their mark on history as the first enlisted females to deploy aboard the war ship.

Though Carney has had several female officers on board since her commissioning, April 13, 1996, it was not until February 2009 that the ship allowed enlisted females to become a part of the crew.

After checking onto the ship in April 2009, Syretta Revels, chief yeoman, helped the junior female sailors make the transition to living aboard ship.

"I wasn't supposed to check on board until June," said Revels. "But I received an e-mail from the command master chief asking me to come early to help with the younger females. I felt very welcomed in the fact they came to me for guidance. I didn't feel at all like I needed to prove myself."

Command Master Chief Ross Cramer said he was happy to see Carney finally bring women aboard even if it did take a little longer than other ships of its kind.

"The ship was built in the era when we were slowly integrating women into combat rolls," he said. "Women were on ships, but they were not directly involved in hostile combat. So, when Carney was built, it was built for men to go into battle, women facilities were not part of the planning."

After a shipyard period in 2008, Carney was prepared to house 42 female Sailors in a newly furbished berthing,

"The integration has gone very well," said Cramer. "We have not treated them any differently just because they are female. We offer them the same training; we enforce the same standards. This crew is very close. Once someone checks aboard, we give them a Carney ball cap, and they are family."

In the year following the yard period, the number of enlisted females rose from 5 to 33, and with a deployment approaching, getting everyone settled in became the number one priority.

"We started to work on a deployment list," said Petty Officer 1st Class Shenna Gaston, intelligence specialist. "We had a newly furbished berthing so we didn't have to do much in getting anything ready there, but we helped the younger girls make list of things to remember. Anything that would help the deployment be more comfortable for them."

Gaston, along with some of the other females who had made previous deployments on other ships, said that the integration was not an issue for them.

"It wasn't anything new for me," said Gaston. "Coming from other ships that have already been integrated makes it easy. As for the younger girls, they seem to be doing well with it also. Seeing as this is a first deployment for a lot of them, they don't know any different so it has worked out well for all of us."

After more than a century of women serving in the U.S. Navy and more than 25 years of women serving aboard ships, the women of Carney has worked hard in their first year, showing that they belong.

"I actually made it a point to be the first female to earn my Enlisted Surface Warfare pin," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Renee Hotchkiss, hospital corpsman. "I was also the first female Blue Jacket of the Quarter. I have worked hard, but I have never felt like I had to prove myself. That surprised me because I figured coming to a ship full of males that would be the first thing I had to do, but they welcomed us with open arms."

Though the males of Carney may have been used to the way things were before women came aboard, they have adapted well to the change and recognize it as a new page in Carney's history.

"Diversity makes us stronger and different opinions brought to the table make for a better decisions," said Cramer. "If any one still has that dinosaur mentality that women shouldn't be on ships, they need to find a new mentor. A Sailor is a Sailor, regardless if they are male or female."

In 1979, 55 female officers and 375 enlisted women were assigned to 21 ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The repair ship USS Vulcan being the first Navy ship on which women were deployed. Today, thousands of women are serving in the Navy, ashore and around the fleet. Carney women are proud to be a part of that history.

Carney is currently attached to the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group in support of maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th fleet area of responsibility.

Carney's mission is to conduct prompt, sustained combat operations at sea in support of U.S. national policy. The ship is equipped to operate independently or as part of a carrier strike group or expeditionary strike group.

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