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As Cammermeyer came to adulthood in the early 1960s, young women didn't have a lot of say in running their lives. Cammermeyer was born in Norway but came to the US with her family when she was a small child. 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. 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. 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. She soon found that army life was an ideal match for her career-oriented nature. It was during this interview that she admitted that she was a lesbian.
She served with her husband in Vietnam. An acquaintance got her interested in the challenges and adventure of army nursing, so she gave it a try. 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. 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.
This book tells the story of Margarethe Cammermeyer, a woman who challenged the army's regulation against homosexuality. 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. Fortunately, I kept reading, and found myself quite taken with Cammermeyer's coming of age story. Her goal was to become a general before she retired. Her husband felt threatened and abandoned by her new attitude of independence, and this led eventually to an acrimonious divorce. Instead she found herself drawn to nursing. In trying to play her part, Cammermeyer married, had children, tried settling down on the farm.
During her long career in the army and national guard, she won many honors. However, to do this, she needed a top-secret security clearance, which required an in-depth background interview. 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. 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.
military's policy of discharging gay people. 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. "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. and becomes a citizen. But the book succeeds on many other levels. 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 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.
I found the prose style very enjoyable to read. An openly gay woman, she challenged the U.S. 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. The reader follows her as she emigrates to the U.S. Cammermeyer tells in depth about her career as an Army nurse; particularly fascinating are her memories of serving in wartime Vietnam. 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. I highly recommend "Serving" to those interested in the Vietnam War, lesbian and gay studies, military memoirs, women's studies, and the nursing profession.
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.
Even after all my years of being "out," I found her story and life so far to be fascinating and inspiring. 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. 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. It's also a good read for the role of women in the Vietnam war and in the National Guard. (The made-for-TV movie starring Glenn Close as Dr. It's wonderful to have another role model for my own life. Cammermeyer is truly a "great American," as the military admitted while in the same breath sanctioning her discharge.
Daughter, mother, soldier, nurse, life partner, healer, activist: Dr. Cammermeyer's book. But her book is also an amazing window into the life experiences that fully shaped her to be the person who she is today. I encourage anyone interested in finding out how women can change society and military policy to read this book. Dr. Cammermeyer is a hero on so many levels, and you'll have the chance to learn about all of it in her book. Cammermeyer and Judy Davis as Diane, her life partner, is also fabulous).
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.
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