Christine Stewart (Navy LCDR (ret))

Christine Stewart (Navy LCDR (ret)) went from teaching high school PE in Pittsburgh for three years, to serving 16 years in the US Navy. Her Navy career included an MOS in aviation electronics (a field few women entered then), a transition to the officer corps, and assignments in
Above: Chris Stewart with Shamen in Edgewood, NM Image with dog here

the US, Spain, and Iceland (when only 8.5% of all military were women, compared to ~18% as of 2022). She punctuated that with two stints in education, one of which involved a hostage situation.

“I taught all types of high school students and I coached tennis,” Chris said. She possessed physical and mental strength, and she enjoyed being a teacher, especially in her hometown. I can visualize her combining a nose-to-the-ground work ethic with rarely visible yet deep-seated feelings for the students and others whose lives she touched. These traits came to her aid during her military career and civilian career years later.
“I enjoyed my teaching years. But when I began to re-evaluate my career path, the Navy came into the picture. Both my parents were in the Navy in World War II. Serving was something that came naturally to me.”

EARLY YEARS: Chris was born in Pittsburgh but moved a lot in her early years. Her dad served in the Navy in the North Sea and on the battleship USS Alabama in the Pacific until the bombing of Hiroshima. Her mom served in the Navy at the same time as a pharmacist’s mate. They met while in the Navy.
Chris earned her bachelor’s degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1973. Then she taught high school for about three years.

LIFE IN THE MILITARY: Chris was too old to become an officer when she joined the Navy in 1979 because she would be 27 by the time she would become a sailor. She would be over the maximum age requirement. So she joined the enlisted ranks and went to the Naval Training Center Orlando (FL) for boot camp. (See Orlando Navy Boot Camp Yearbooks | GG Archives for a history of the training center.)

Because Chris scored high on the ASVAB, she could choose her military occupational specialty (MOS) and she chose aviation electronics – a specialty with few women. (See Women in the Navy > United States Navy > News Stories for more information.) She went to A-School in Millington, TN, for eight weeks of school and six months of duty on base. She requested and was assigned to the VQ2 Squadron at NAVSTA Rota Spain. She worked on P-3 Orions, the Navy’s frontline, land-based maritime patrol aircraft. She was one of only three or four women working on the P-3s.

Her tour in Spain changed her Navy career. Her senior squadron officer at the base who had experience in recruiting found out about Chris, her excellent work, and her bachelor’s degree. He got her an age waiver and a month later she was in OCS in Newport, RI.

As an ensign, she became a line officer at Long Beach, where her future husband was also stationed. Chris married Bill, a chief petty officer, in 1982. She worked in Personnel Support Activity at Naval Station Long Beach and coordinated all the administrative functions for base commands at the base. After Bill transferred to San Diego, she was transferred six months later to the administrative office of the Naval Reserves Readiness Command 19 there. Then she transferred to Point Loma, supporting the Fleet Combat Training Center Pacific. The command organized simulated battle strategies in the classroom and out in the bay.

At her next command, Chris was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and became the Director of the Family Service Center at Naval Air Station North Island. She supervised mental health civilian staff. They provided services to returning military and their families after the sailors returned from deployment. “The hard part was working with spousal abuse and child abuse, and with suicidal members of the military. The military is a slice of society.

We’re not any better or any worse than people who live in other places,” Chris observed.

Chris experienced a rather unusual assignment while at North Island. Before the Soviet Union broke up in 1991, she was tasked to host the wife of the Soviet Defense Minister during a visit to North Island. “It was an interesting tour. The defense minister’s wife was encouraged by all the ways our government takes care of our military members,” she noted.

Her next assignment was Operations Officer at the Naval Communications and Telecommunication Station Keflavik Base near Reykjavik, Iceland. “I loved Iceland. I was there 20 months. I was third in line at the Communications Station on base. We had 400 sailors at the command,” Chris reflected. After that, she was accepted in the Training and Administration Reserve program in the Navy (TAR). Chris next spent two years at the Naval Reserve Readiness Command 19. “We did good work there,” she said. At her final duty station, she was the Executive Officer (XO) at the Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Readiness Center in Phoenix.

She retired in 1994, when then-President Clinton implemented the military drawdown, allowing military personnel to take an “early out” with benefits. “I chose to retire so I could live with my husband. I served until the early out became available. You got your pension based on time in service and time in rank. After retiring, if you worked in education, health, or firefighting at age 60, you could earn your full retirement. So I took advantage of that, too,” she explained.

“My husband retired from the Navy while I was at the Family Service Center. He moved to Colorado while I was at Redcom 19. I joined him there when I retired. We got MBA’s from National University while I was there and he was working at General Dynamics. I became a substitute teacher in an At-Risk Program for a year before being hired full time. I loved those kids and all of them graduated,” she recalled. “After five years, I got my master’s degree in counseling. I became a school counselor in Platte Canyon High School in Bailey, CO, near where we lived,” she said. Chris and Bill also got involved in sled dog racing and showing Samoyeds.

While working at Platte Canyon, she experienced a student hostage situation and shooting. One of her female students was killed. Chris worked as hard as she could to help the students and teachers recover from the tragic event. “It was very traumatic,” she reflected. “It was almost more than I could bear. After the shooting, teachers would come into my office at 6:30 in the morning, looking for support. I saw the students all day.”

“That was when I found solace and love from my beloved Samoyed dogs, especially Chino, who was trained as a therapy dog. He was my heart and soul dog. We were so bonded. I had brought Chino to school a few times before the shooting and the students and teachers were begging me to bring him back. They needed him to help them recover from this horrific experience. Knowing I needed to protect Chino from emotional overload, I waited four months until I brought him to my office at school. I brought him in a few more times. He really helped them – and me – a lot. I stayed at Platte Canyon for five more years.”

She and Bill moved to New Mexico three years ago. She volunteers at the East Mountain Democrats office in Cedar Crest. The results of the recent election have been difficult for her. Although Chris and Bill have stopped breeding Samoyeds, they have nine canine family members sharing their home and acreage near Edgewood in the mountains east of Albuquerque. “They provide me the emotional support whenever I need it – still. In fact, I’m thinking about getting Shaman (Chino’s half-brother) trained as a therapy dog to help veterans,” Chris concluded.