WOMEN OF COLOR AWARD WINNERS
n point of time, Eleanor Valentin followed her hus- band, Captain Dennis Larsen, into the Navy, but even a cursory look at her career shows that she’s never been a follower in anything she’s tried. Rather, as a University of Washington alumni news posting said, fresh from completing four degrees in zoology, psychology and public health in 1982, Valentin simply decided she hadn’t seen enough challenges.
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Valentin, promoted to rear admiral in 2009, became a histo- ry-maker several times over as she ascended to the boss’ seat at the Navy’s Medicine Support Command. The first woman to reach flag rank in the Medical Service Corps and the first minority officer to lead the Medical Support Command, Rear Admiral Valentin also is an exemplar of a stunning turna- round in the treatment of Asia-Pacific Americans—especially of Filipino-Americans—in the U.S. military.
A Long, Slow Climb The history of Filipino participation in naval service began a century ago, after the Spanish American War. The Philip- pines, first held as a colony and then maintained as a client after liberation, was the only nation whose citizens were allowed to join the U.S. military without first gaining status as permanent residents in America. So far so good. Military serv- ice permitted thousands of those Navy veterans to become American citizens, stepping briskly past the quota system that restricted the access of immigrants from many other coun- tries. As a result, the Filipino-American community became the second-largest group of Asian immigrants in this country, today estimated at four million strong.
What was not so good was that the Filipinos, like African Americans before Harry Truman ended the segregation of the armed services, were restricted—with very few excep- tions—to serving as stewards, cooking the meals for Navy officers, cleaning their living quarters and uniforms, and doing other housekeeping tasks. With their home economy deeply depressed, young Filipino men had few other options, and even if they decided not to pursue U.S. citizenship, Navy retirement supported a comfortable lifestyle back in the Phil- ippine Island archipelago.
Change, After Generations That ended, gradually, after a 1973 revision of the Navy’s marching orders. New Filipino enlistees, mostly men still, could “strike” for any enlisted rating for which they qualified, and many did. Even better, the work that had been done by stewards only was now distributed between enlisted person- nel of just about any Navy rating. Still, it’s worth noting that when another Philippines descendant, Eleanor “Connie” Mariano, was promoted to rear admiral by President Bill Clin- ton, she stood at the podium and announced, “I am pleased to stand before you today as proof that Filipino-Americans in the Navy no longer have go through the kitchen, the back door or the garage. I came to the White House by way of the kitchen. I come from a family of Navy stewards. At that time
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2010
and for many years, the only way Filipinos were able to serve in the Navy was as stewards.”
The Asian Journal writer who covered that story, Ramon J. Farolan, also noted that he and his wife had visited the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and were pleasantly surprised to meet a young Filipino cadet, who it turned out had originally enlisted in the Navy, and won appointment to the Academy. The cadet’s brother was then a midshipman at Annapolis. My, how things have changed.
An All-Encompassing Command Rear Admiral Valentin, selected for promotion to her critically important post by Vice Admiral Adam Robinson, the Surgeon General of the Navy, leads a command out of Jacksonville, Florida, whose “area of responsibility” extends to operations in nine countries and 12 U.S. states, with 4,000 personnel.
That needs some expansion. One of the agencies reporting to Rear Admiral Valentin is the Naval Medical Research Cent- er, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. Research there focuses on finding and developing products and solutions to the expected battlefield medical problems faced by sailors and Marines, such as bleeding, traumatic brain injury, com- bat stress, and infectious diseases, in addition to the health problems caused by what the Navy calls “non-conventional weapons,” including “thermobaric blast” effects (read, “from improvised explosive devices”), biological agents, and radia- tion. The center’s research areas cover biologic defense, infec- tious diseases, combat casualty care, dental and biomedical research, directed energy bioeffects, environmental health, aerospace medicine, undersea medicine, tropical medicine and bone marrow donation. Is that a mouthful?
Monitoring Diseases, Meeting Disasters But it doesn’t stop there; this is only the beginning. The U.S. and overseas laboratories also play key roles in monitoring the worldwide emergence of infectious diseases. The Navy says that two of the scientists under her command discov- ered the H1N1 Flu virus, identifying the first two cases in the United States. Thus, her labs also support cooperation in international public health programs through military-to-mili- tary collaborations and public-health capacity-building efforts in other countries. The labs also respond to disasters, such as the 2004 tsunami that struck Banda Aceh, in Indonesia.
Another command, the Navy Medicine Information Systems Support Activity in San Antonio, Texas, provides information management and information technology services to medical and dental personnel aboard ships and in Navy and Marine Corps facilities worldwide.
The Navy Medical Logistics Command, headquartered at Fort Detrick, Maryland, with supporting facilities in Williamsburg and Yorktown, Virginia, and Pirmasens, Germany, provides contracting support for Navy and Department of Defense medical and dental activities. The Navy says this command
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