Women sweep Sailor of the Year awards for first time

The submarine school in Groton, Conn., will include 19 women this year, the first group since the Navy lifted its ban on women serving on submarines. On Thursday, the Navy reached another milestone, when women swept the annual Sailor of the Year awards for the first time.

The four women's achievement was marked by meritorious promotions to chief petty officer in a ceremony at the Navy Memorial in Washington, with their families and commanders proudly looking on as chief's anchors were p inned to the lapels of their khakis. The four sailors of the year were chosen from the enlisted fleet of 273,226. Every year, they are feted in Washington, whisked with their families from museum to monument during a week of kudos and congratulations from Navy brass.

This year, though, history was made.

"It's almost like the sky's the limit," said Chief Hospital Corpsman Ingrid J. Cortez, 32, who just returned to Virginia Beach from a two-year deployment on the amphibious assault ship Bataan. "We no longer have obstacles for women."

The sailors were chosen for their overall performance and leadership, Navy officials said.

Since the first sailors of the year were honored in 1972, women occasionally have risen to the top of a pile culled from hundreds of nominations submitted by the fleet, officials said. However, today's commanders described the ascension of Cortez, Chief Operations Specialist Samira McBride, Chief Hospital Corpsman Shalanda Brewer and Chief Cryptologic Technician (Technical) Cassandra Foote as a product of women's integration in the fleet that deepened in 1993. That's when female sailors began serving on surface warships and combat aircraft.

"What we're seeing this year is the benefits of that change," said Adm. Gary Roughead, the chief of naval operations. "For four women to rise to the top is extraordinarily unusual."

In June, Rear Adm. Nora Tyson became the first woman to command a carrier strike group, and Cmdr. Sara Joyner became the first to head a carrier air wing.

"That's the centerpiece of combat capability in the Navy," Roughead said.

Special forces remains the only role closed to Navy women.

Cortez, McBride, Brewer and Foote are rising in an active-duty and reserve fleet in which women make up 16.4 percent of the enlisted force and 15.8 percent of officers, according to Navy data.

Like all women who want to balance a career and children, these sailors face challenges, such as being stationed at sea. But two of this year's honorees have children, who pinned their mothers' anchors on Thursday.

Cortez hates to be away from her sons, ages 10 and 3. "But I explain to them it's for a great cause," she said.