April 01, 2010 
by Molly Blake
Back before the war on terror began, most people had only heard of Gitmo, Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because Demi Moore and Tom Cruise showed up there dressed absurdly in Navy 'whites' in the 1992 film, "A Few Good Men." Today, it's widely known as the base that houses thousands of enemy combatants captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. And for Navy officers like Lieutenant Commander Alana Huber, it's home.
Huber is one of 120,000 active duty, reserve and civilian women serving in the United States Navy whom we honor in March during Women's History Month.
Huber joined the Navy nearly 10 years ago to help pay for nursing school. Her initial goal was to complete her payback tour, separate from the Navy and enter the civilian workforce but plans changed quickly as she moved up the ranks and the Navy began entrusting her with leadership responsibilities rarely afforded to civilian nurses.
"I've been able to grow more as a nurse in the Navy," said Huber.
As a Behavioral Nurse, Huber will spend seven months at Gitmo working at one of the two hospitals on base. One provides care for the military personnel and civilians stationed there and the other serves the male detainee population. Lt. Cmdr. Huber will be working with the detainees handling some routine medical issues including passing out medicine as well other tasks that have been deemed classified.
Huber's husband, Mike, a Marine Corps aviator, has deployed with his squadron to OIF but this is the first time that he'll be the one left behind. Mike, Alana's mom and fellow military families will pitch in while she's deployed: picking up their two-year old twins from school, attending school conferences for their elementary school-age girls and dealing with the every day nuances of raising a family.
"Career-wise, it's an amazing opportunity for me," said Lt. Cmdr. Huber. "Mommy-wise it's very difficult but I joined the Navy voluntarily and thankfully I have a very strong support system in place."
Huber and other female officers like retired Captain Kim Gibson say the Navy is contemporary and its treatment and promotion of women is a far cry from WWII era 'WAVES,' which stood for Women Accepted For Volunteer Emergency Service.
In 1980 Dr. Gibson served aboard the USS Simon Lake as the first female physician and department head on the ship. Admittedly naïve about acronyms and ship-board traditions, she quickly saw the Navy as her advocate.
"There is a real network and community in the Navy," said Gibson. "They want to see people excel, develop skills and bring value to the organization."
The Navy's Top Brass agrees - it was recently announced that women will soon serve aboard submarines.
"We think we learned a lot about integrating women in the services years ago, and those lessons are relevant today," Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said. Women first served aboard military surface ships in 1993. On the heels of this decision, Army Chief of Staff General George Casey told Congress that the role of women in combat should also be reconsidered.
"I believe it's time that we take a look at what women are actually doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. And then we take a look at our policies," Casey told the Senate Armed Services Committee. To date, no official plan is underway.
Women's History Month was initially only one week but in 1987 Congress extended the celebration to a month. The national theme this year in "Writing Women Back into History." Some 16,000 women are currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and related areas.