Retired Navy commander looks back on trailblazing years of service

Nov. 11—Jeanne Miller was in the "right place, right time" when she was promoted as one of the first female commanders in the United States Navy.

"The Navy was looking to increase the presence of women in the senior ranks and looking to have some women commanding officers. And I've just happened to be that seniority in a place where they could move there," Miller said.

Miller grew up in Garfield County, Oklahoma and graduated from Phillips University in Enid in 1972. Soon after, she joined the Navy and in 1984 she was promoted to first lieutenant on the USS Shenandoah, and in doing so became one one of the first women surface warfare officers to serve in an executive officer position aboard a Navy ship.

She went on to do tours in the Bay area, the Caribbean, Spain, Italy and others. At one point she even served with the Libyan task force. Miller said they seemed to deploy everywhere except the south Atlantic.

Miller was then promoted to commander and served a tour at naval personnel command in Washington, D.C., from 1988 through 1991. In 1992, Miller became the third woman in history to command a Navy ship.

For about seven years she was the highest ranking female surface warfare officer in the United States Navy. During her service she was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal and Navy Achievement Medal.

The most rewarding aspect of the job was sitting in the ship's commander's chair, which she said is "entirely symbolic," and watching the "sailors do their jobs and going places and doing things."

However, being a woman in a leadership position of course came with its own challenges, Miller said.

"Anybody that's the first or second or third of anything is going to have challenges. Part of it is perception. People don't perceive that it's appropriate or even possible for a woman to be a commanding officer or a senior officer. My Black friends and Hispanic friends ran into exactly the same issue," she said.

"Keeping in mind that because I was an officer, particularly when I was in uniform, I was kind of protected from that. Because the enlisted guys aren't gonna go up to an officer and say, I'm not gonna work for you. You know, they can't do that. They're not allowed to do that. But there were some it was hard for I would say," she continued.

She said some of the operational challenges of the job included doing things she wouldn't always agree with.

"To do things that were not, that would be a hardship on my sailors, the people who work for me even though I might not agree that's the best way to handle things. So I had to decide, just as any boss does, to make an issue of it or not," she said.

Miller said she doesn't know if she would have done anything differently when she looks back on her time in service.

Being from Oklahoma she had never imagined the places she ended up going to, she said.

"I got to see much, much, much more than I would otherwise. Work with many, many different kinds of people that I would have ever worked with. Done things that I would never have been able to do. I guess it just broadened my whole perception, my whole life," she said.

"I don't know that there is much that I would have done differently because...I'm kind of change adverse, so anything else that I would have done would have taken me off in a different direction. I don't know that I would have enjoyed that other direction any more than the one I have gone," she said.

After getting out of the Navy, Miller attended law school at the University of Oklahoma and graduated in 1998, she said.

She practiced some estate planning, juvenile justice and some elder law in Norman for many years before retiring a few years ago, she said.

Miller said the Navy prepared her for her law career by teaching her to be "disciplined" and "organized."

"And mission focused, I guess that sounds a little silly, but it's you decide what you're gonna do and then you figure out how you're gonna get there," she said.

These days, to keep herself "out of trouble," she volunteers with nonprofits, her church, attends book clubs and spends time with her family and "kitty cats."

She added that "the beauty of retirement for me is that I can play on my own schedule. Doesn't mean I don't do anything, but it means I do things that I want to do. I know what I want to do."

For women looking to join the Navy or the military in general she recommends doing "a lot of research" and making sure they know what they're getting into.

In describing her own experience she said it was "the right place at the right time, the right thing to do. Sounds a lot like I lucked out. Let's put it that way, I lucked out."