I joined the United States Navy out of Knoxville Tennessee when I was nineteen years old. I spoke with my recruiter for the first time on a Thursday and left for boot camp just six days later. Prior to entering this strange new world, I had grown accustomed to the many joys of civilian life. While I expected to yearn for obvious luxuries, such as a private bath and shower. I had not anticipated that I would dream about my very clean, very quiet doctor’s office. That sounds silly, but as I stood in the conveyor belt like shot-line, I would daydream about my all woman’s clinic back home. With the friendly receptionist that offered coffee to the patients walking in, the smell of flowers as you walked in and the soft-spoken nurses that asked about
