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Serving in Silence

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This book tells the story of Margarethe Cammermeyer, a woman who challenged the army's regulation against homosexuality. Cammermeyer was born in Norway but came to the US with her family when she was a small child. As a teenager, she thought she would become a doctor like her father, but faced with the freedoms of college-life, wasn't able to make the grades. Instead she found herself drawn to nursing. An acquaintance got her interested in the challenges and adventure of army nursing, so she gave it a try. She soon found that army life was an ideal match for her career-oriented nature. She served with her husband in Vietnam. When she had children, she was forced to leave the army, for a while, but regulations eventually changed, and she was able to re-enlist as a reservist. During her long career in the army and national guard, she won many honors. Her goal was to become a general before she retired. However, to do this, she needed a top-secret security clearance, which required an in-depth background interview. It was during this interview that she admitted that she was a lesbian. Suddenly, the army found it no longer had any use for her skills or experience. Cammermeyer was flabbergasted at this response, and began a campaign against the regulations which forbid professed homosexuals from serving their country in uniform.

The book begins with description of an ugly event that happened on the day Cammermeyer was forced out of the Washington National Guard. The text in this chapter is so angry, I almost put the book down without reading further because I wanted to read about her life, not her anger. Fortunately, I kept reading, and found myself quite taken with Cammermeyer's coming of age story. As Cammermeyer came to adulthood in the early 1960s, young women didn't have a lot of say in running their lives. They were expected to do what they were told, and what they were supposed to do, like marry, have children, keep house, and leave the career-building for the men. In trying to play her part, Cammermeyer married, had children, tried settling down on the farm. But coincident with the women's movement, she noticed that she wasn't satisfied with these actions, and set out to get advanced degrees so that she could push her career into high gear. Her husband felt threatened and abandoned by her new attitude of independence, and this led eventually to an acrimonious divorce. After the divorce, Cammermeyer had time to think about what she really wanted and liked in life, and it was at this time that she realized her innate sexual orientation. Overall the book is well written, and it provides an interesting personal account of the societal changes for women from the 1960s to the 1990s.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a personal story about the fight for gay rights in the military. Being a memoir, Cammermeyer starts from the beginning, so you get a real sense of who she is and her struggles throughout life. As she was not brought up in a tolerant world, she did not know she was a lesbian until middle age, so she was able to have a family though she struggled with a difficult divorce once she realized her true self. (The section on her divorce really moved me because she tried so hard to allow her sons to grow separately and tolerate their anger towards her despite their not being able to understand why she had to leave, something my own mother was too selfish to understand.) After the divorce, she found that she had to reinvent herself as a single woman, which was difficult but not impossible, at least until she uttered the tragic words during a security clearance interview "I am a homosexual".
Cammermeyer fought back, however, when the military tried to eject her for this admission because she believed she had to confess because doing so proved her loyalty to the Armed Forces. She also innocently believed that officers were allowed some discretion as to their personal life, but no. Soon after she started her case against the government, Clinton passed the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, which actually would have helped her if it was in force during her interview because the question never would have arisen. As it was not, she had to be tried under the rules in place when she made her response. As I don't want to ruin the ending, all I will say is that if you are interested in human rights this endearing story is a MUST read because it truly puts a human face on to an ongoing tragedy against our queer service men and women.

I know Dr. Cammermeyer personaly...She is an amazing woman who has been through many struggles...This book was a way for her to let other people know what she had to put up with and try and give others hope that even when you feel like everything is going wrong...Never give up, something good will always come.

I am an out lesbian who's been involved with queer politics and HIV issues for 15 years, but I just recently got around to reading Dr. Cammermeyer's book. Even after all my years of being "out," I found her story and life so far to be fascinating and inspiring. It's wonderful to have another role model for my own life! I encourage anyone interested in finding out how women can change society and military policy to read this book. It's also a good read for the role of women in the Vietnam war and in the National Guard. Dr. Cammermeyer is truly a "great American," as the military admitted while in the same breath sanctioning her discharge. Her story is all about one person having the integrity and strength to stand up for what she believes to be right, using the legal system to out-maneuver the military, and continuing to be a passionate and out-spoken supporter of banishing ALL types of discrimination. But her book is also an amazing window into the life experiences that fully shaped her to be the person who she is today. Daughter, mother, soldier, nurse, life partner, healer, activist: Dr. Cammermeyer is a hero on so many levels, and you'll have the chance to learn about all of it in her book. (The made-for-TV movie starring Glenn Close as Dr. Cammermeyer and Judy Davis as Diane, her life partner, is also fabulous!)

"Serving in Silence," by Margarethe Cammermeyer (with Chris Fisher) is a memoir by a nurse who rose to the rank of full colonel in the United States Army. An openly gay woman, she challenged the U.S. military's policy of discharging gay people. But her fight over this policy is only part of a wide-ranging and consistently fascinating book.

The book begins with her childhood in Norway during World War II and Nazi occupation. The reader follows her as she emigrates to the U.S. and becomes a citizen. Cammermeyer tells in depth about her career as an Army nurse; particularly fascinating are her memories of serving in wartime Vietnam. The book also covers marriage, motherhood, and divorce, as well as her civilian nursing career and her continuing military service in both the Army Reserve and the National Guard.

A particularly intriguing aspect of the book is her quest to raise a bilingual family and celebrate her Norwegian roots; in this regard the book represents a fine contribution to the canon of multiethnic American literature. The book is not just about the colonel, but is a multigenerational family story; her accounts of her relationships with her parents, sons, and other relatives are very moving. Cammermeyer also offers interesting insights into military life, the nursing profession, and the process of discovering the lesbian and gay community.

Cammermeyer has lived a truly epic life, and this book is absorbing throughout. I found the prose style very enjoyable to read. The book's cover emphasizes the colonel's role as a pioneer for gay rights, and indeed this aspect of the text is truly compelling. But the book succeeds on many other levels. I highly recommend "Serving" to those interested in the Vietnam War, lesbian and gay studies, military memoirs, women's studies, and the nursing profession.

Clearly reveals the absurd and cruel policy of the military concerning lesbians and gays. How disgusting that an institution of the U.S. government shows such bigotry, ignorance, and distain for a group of people, not to mention an individual who served her country with dedication and distinction. How disgusting the bigotry continues in the military and throughout our government.

In 1996 I was fired from a government law enforcement position due to my orientation. I hit bottom, emotionally and financially. This book helped me see we have to fight discrimination, that I can survive this ordeal and come out a better person. It is a story of courage from a real hero, and I reccomend it no matter what your orientation, military status, or personal beliefs.