Girl at Sea: A Story of Courage, Strength, and Growth from One of the First Women to Serve on US Warships

Girl at Sea: A Story of Courage, Strength, and Growth from One of the First Women to Serve on US Warships

by Joanna Sprtel Walters
Girl at Sea: A Story of Courage, Strength, and Growth from One of the First Women to Serve on US Warships

Girl at Sea: A Story of Courage, Strength, and Growth from One of the First Women to Serve on US Warships

by Joanna Sprtel Walters

Hardcover

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Overview

A Naval officer’s memoir about finding one’s voice.

Women have bravely served in the U.S. Navy for nearly a century, but they have only been allowed to serve in combat roles for the last twenty-five years. When the combat exclusion law was lifted in 1993, women in the Navy soon had a new range of opportunities available to them. The repeal of the law finally gave women the chance to serve on combatant ships for the first time.

Among the first women to step onto these warships as a new crewmember was Joanna Sprtel Walters. In her memoir Girl at Sea, she shares her story beginning with training at the US Naval Academy through her service in the fleet aboard combatant warships. As a member of the class of 1994, she was among the first group of women out of the Academy to have selected warfare specialties. This real-life account sheds light on a ground-breaking time in our country’s history as gender barriers continue to be torn down within all divisions of our Armed Forces.

Walters’s story will resonate with anyone who has ever had to bump their head against a glass ceiling and then fight their way through it. Her story covers difficult topics such as a sexual assault and extortion case at the end of her time at the Academy; struggling to prove herself on a ship where men felt women were invading their spaces; earning the hard-fought respect of her first division; recovering from the career suicide of engaging in a forbidden relationship; fighting to stay in the Navy and then thriving in the most difficult of environments; and her eventual blossoming into a strong Division Officer with an MBA under her belt. Through her successes and failures, Walter’s hopes to inspire others to reach beyond what they thought they were capable of and find their own inner strength.

Skyhorse Publishing, along with our Arcade, Good Books, Sports Publishing, and Yucca imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs. Our list includes biographies on well-known historical figures like Benjamin Franklin, Nelson Mandela, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as villains from history, such as Heinrich Himmler, John Wayne Gacy, and O. J. Simpson. We have also published survivor stories of World War II, memoirs about overcoming adversity, first-hand tales of adventure, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781634504867
Publisher: Skyhorse
Publication date: 09/22/2015
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Joanna Sprtel Walters is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and served as a Surface Warfare Officer for over 6 years earning Navy Achievement Medals, Navy Commendation Medals and the rank of Lieutenant. She graduated from DePaul University with her MBA in 2002, moved to Colorado and has had quite a diverse career: P&G, SAHM to 2 young girls, real estate investor, owner/CEO of a casino, and most recently Principal of a small niche PE Firm. But what Walters enjoys most are the life adventures she shares with her family. She resides in Golden, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

US Naval Academy or Bust 1

Berwyn 5

Swimming History 13

Plebe Year 41

Youngster Year 61

2/c Year 67

First Class Year 93

June Week 119

Surface Warfare School (SWOS) 127

USS Paul F. Foster 137

Earning "Teflon Woman" 165

La Moure County 187

Unitas 1998 207

Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes 247

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