Navy needed nurses, she needed college money
In 1969, during the Vietnam War, I was studying to be a nurse in Newport, R.I., a town with a large naval base. My education funds had run out and I was going to have to work for a while to save money to complete college.
I learned that the U.S. Navy had a program where the government paid for a year of college in return for two years of active duty. The Navy was desperate for nurses at the time as legions of men and women returned stateside from combat with terrible wounds and in need of medical care. This program would allow me to continue my studies and then provide me with a good job upon graduation.
Interestingly, it was a nationwide nurse recruitment program and my nursing group's enlistment ceremony was given a high media profile. I was stunned to find myself standing on the deck of the USS Constitution in the Boston Harbor as I raised my right hand with a pledge to serve my country. What an unforgettable honor and historic occasion.
I gratefully graduated nursing school and went on to care for our country's amazing servicemen and -women for nearly two years. I met my husband, a naval officer, during this time and over the next 22 years lived the life of a Navy spouse. We finally dropped anchor in Oviedo and retired. We wish our Navy family and friends “fair winds and following seas” on this Veterans Day. Margie Sloane Oviedo. She is a member of the Orlando Sentinel Editorial Advisory Board.