My Navy Too [Paperback]

Beth F. Coye (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1997

My Navy Too, the story of one woman's career in the U.S. Navy, is painted against a backdrop of the drama of the nineteen sixties and seventies -- the Vietnam War, the women's movement, and the confusion of the Cold War, and later, the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue" policy debate. While Vietnam runs its tragic course, Tucker Fairfield fights within the navy for women's rights and equality against her most implacable foe, "Big Daddy Navy." Tucker's communications with her mentor and friends and journal reveal a complex amalgam of human interactions and conflicts yet to be resolved within today's society.

Now is the right time for a book like My Navy Too. Who can better tell the story of women in the military -- the challenges they face, the traditions they try to understand, and the equality they seek -- than someone who has "been there, done that?" Movies such as "G.I. Jane" tell a part of the story; My Navy Too dots the "I's" and crosses the "T's."

Every day we see headlines about rules and regulations in the military and how they are applied to members of the armed services. Are the regulations which held sway for more than 100 years relevant today? Do they need to be changed to reflect changing attitudes about women, minorities, gays and lesbians in the military? This novel, while fiction, is solidly grounded in the military as it exists today. Tucker Fairfield -- an involved, intelligent woman -- faces challenges, obstacles, love, and "Big Daddy Navy" as her career as a naval officer advances. Her story will make you ache, cringe, and, most importantly, THINK about your own feelings,fears, and beliefs. This is not light reading. This book addresses sensitive and hurtful issues, but in a way that is both balanced and penetrating. It's probably the most balanced presentation of the sensitive political issues surrounding women, minorities, gays and lesbians in the military that has ever been offered to the reading public.

"My Navy Too couldn't come at a better time...In the end, the resolution will have to do with profound values that touch us all. This is a courageous book." Brad Knickerbocker, senior editor for the Christian Science Monitor, former correspondent and naval aviator.

Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse (OR-D) calls it an account that is both political and personal. "I was fascinated by this book and think it should be required reading for women and men who are entering the Navy or any other service."

"This book is strong and has good bones...My Navy Too is a splendid, sometimes astonishing read..." says Darrelle Novak Cavan, professor emeritus, communications, Mt. San Antonio College, California.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is must reading for anyone interested in understanding the struggle women have had over the last 30 years in attaining some measure of equality in the navy and the difficulties that patriotic gay men and lesbians, whose sexual orientation is given not chosen, have in trying to serve their country. All of those "wrong headed" military leaders, bureaucrats and politicians, who are trying to roll back the gains women have made and prevent openly gay men and lesbians from serving their country would also do well to walk in Tucker Fairfield's shoes. Maybe then they would realize that for women and gays, like Beth Coye, it is "my [their] navy too." (Dr. Lawrence Korb, PhD, Brookings Institution, Naval War College Review, Summer issue 1998.) The book not only gives a fairly good history of the Navy over that past 30 or so years, but it is also a good story -- what many folks like to call a good read. Coye uses an epistolary style to convey the viewpoints of Tucker and several other characters. The letters help draw the reader into the minor characters' everyday lives, while the entries from Tucker's journal create a sense of intimacy that is so often lacking in major novels....My Navy Too comes together as a book about justice. (Jim Van Slyke, Soundings, The Independent Navy Newspaper for Hampton Roads, March 4, 1998) Many of the incidents in the novel ring true to life to anyone with military service. Women especially will find echoes of their own experiences in Fairfield's career...No matter where you stand on the issue of gays in the military, this book is worth reading. The team-style writing approach allows the several sides of each issue to be explored, and also makes for a surprisingly enjoyable read. (Victoria Raun, Coronado Eagle, Oct 22-28, 1997) ...events related run from the heroine's early days in the navy and attendance at officers' school in 1960, through her romance with a navy man she refuses to marry because of her attraction to women, to her eventual lesbian liking with life partner Jennie and her retirement from "Big Daddy Navy" in 1980 with the rank of commander. Whether this novel is, as it seems, highly autobiographical is never answered, but talented, intelligent young women considering naval service -- indeed, service in any of the armed forces -- might do well to read Coye Booklist, and company's ultimately cautionary tale before enlisting. (Whitney Scott, November 15, 1997) My Navy Too is an engaging and challenging political novel that takes the reader into the inner world of the modern U.S. Navy. (MidWest Book Review, January 1998) A book written by committee can be a recipe for literary disaster. Beth Coye has managed not only to avoid disaster, she has produced a compelling novel that, because of the very real different perspectives of her co-authors, is balanced and nuanced. (Frances Werner,Russian River Monthly, April 1998). Not many souls in the service are brave or bold enough to challenge or expose the reality of military life. Or, to tell all about the antiquity, ambiguity, and double standard behavior which purports to be disciplinary control over the armed forces of the United States....A well-written, entertaining novel recently introduced by retired Navy Commander Beth Coye is an eye opening look at the inside we civilians never get to view. -- Rita Glabas, The Jefferson Banner, Nov-Dec 1997

From the Author

Given the confluence of my life experience with the current political issues of gender and homosexuality in the military, this book was destined to be written. I began the work alone, but quickly discovered the story would be more powerful, more real, with others to help me. I asked specific friends whose personal experiences and beliefs would be directly significant to the storyline to write letters for individual characters who would be friends and "family" of the major protagonist, Commander Tucker Fairfield, U.S. Navy. I'm grateful we had the right people for our endeavor. While the characters within our book are fictitious, the stories and situations are based on the authors' experiences.

Only I know each of the other authors. They came to know each other through correspondence and e-mail. Some issues required consensus, and for those times I deeply appreciated their willingness to struggle with, and to accommodate, diverse views. For other issues, just as this book's characters see questions and solutions differently, and as the American public and government have reached no consensus, so too the authors maintained their differences.

My experiences and those of many military friends in the last 37 years took place under the old paradigm that supported strictly white male values. Now the armed services are undergoing a painful, piecemeal shift to more culturally diverse systems. Throughout this paradigmatic transition, these military systems will demand high standards of integrity and readiness.

Sir John Robert Seely, the nineteenth-century historian, insisted on the principle that an appreciation of history, especially recent history, is essential for the politician. He wrote, "Politics without history has no root; history without politics has no fruit." I strongly believe that the American public and government policy makers, as they examine and evaluate policy issues, need to review the relevant history before jumping to conclusions based on current newspaper headlines. My hope is that My Navy Too is both entertaining as an historical novel and useful as an educational tool toward understanding what's truly behind today's media frenzy centered upon gender and homosexuality in the military, as well as the military's policies and attitudes about sex.

Early on in our project, Admiral Duke Bayne and I talked about the comparison of Tucker Fairfield's story with that of Stockton's The Lady or the Tiger. While the individual characters within My Navy Too write their own views on sensitive, public issues, we intended that, after reading it, the reader would be part of the resolution and make a choice between the Lady or the Tiger.

For those readers unfamiliar with military terminology, a brief Glossary and Acronym List can be found at the end of the book. Beth F. Coye

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Cedar Hollow Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965857808
• ISBN-13: 978-0965857802
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,442,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUR Navy needs to come of age...., July 13, 2004

By 

Joe Murphy (Ashland, Oregon USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Navy Too (Paperback)

I was very impressed with the author's writing style. Her story is one that needs to be told and she shows much courage in the telling. The Navy, like all our institutions, must move into the 21st Century and away from the "good ol' boy" management style that has prevailed far too long. Beth Coye gives a sound and eloquent discussion of the problems involved. Her story draws the reader in with each event. She is to be applauded for her fine book. I recommend it highly.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good history and story but poor officer attitude, June 3, 2002

By 

Diane Diekman (Sioux Falls, SD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Navy Too (Paperback)

I enjoyed the historical perspective of reading about female officers a decade before I came along. The unique letter format of this book is well done and easy to follow, if a bit too long. But the whiny attitude got to me. It seems the protagonist spent her whole career thinking about her future and running to her admiral buddy for help. She also slams naval aviators. For those interested in learning about the next generation of female Navy officers, my memoir, "Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made, Not Born," offers a different perspective. "My Navy Too" does not represent all women officers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Damn Good Read, September 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: My Navy Too (Paperback)

I'd call this a fictionalized memoir, allowing the author to take some liberties with her characters. The lives of the author, Commander Coye, and her lead character, Tucker Fairfield, seem to run in parallel. The inclusion of letters from friends and family brings out many political perspectives about the navy and in some degree the rest of the military, adding greatly to the read. Though many readers will have diverse opinions about the various issues raised, Coye is to be admired regarding the way these issues are handled. Those of us who were in the navy during those years can truthfully disagree with few of the author's conclusions. Women were second class personnel, very limited in their careers. Things are better today and career paths are much more open. Military gays and lesbians were, and still are, open to blackmail, not because of their military performance, but because of policy. Yet today the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is, as Tucker says, a wrong headed one-I firmly believe it's an ostrich approach to a fact of life. Gays and lesbians can and do honorably serve their country, so why this unpolicy hanging over their heads daily? Commander Coye has done a masterful job creating a book that should be required reading for any young person going into the military. Young women can see that the past wasn't roses and young men can learn why new policies concerning equality in the ranks are in place. I would strongly recommend this book. In plain terms, It's a Damn Good Read! Tom Williams, Chief Warrant Officer, U.S.Navy, Retired