EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a series released every Monday between Memorial Day and Veterans Day in honor of local veterans. To nominate a veteran, email Metro editor Marly Reichert at [email protected].
YOUNGSTOWN – When Leona Caldwell of Youngstown was in the US Navy Reserve in the 1990s, her job title was Exhibition Specialist, although most people would call it a cook.
However, it would be a grave injustice to believe that she had only cooked in her six years in the military.
“I went in as a canteen specialist, but it was more than that because we had to be just as ready to fight” as any other sailor, she said.
“If something happens, (your ship takes) a hit or something, you should be able to step in if someone was injured,” she said of her East Side home.
Caldwell, a mother of four, received basic training at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans in 1993 when she was drafted.
She is from Cleveland and moved to Youngstown in the late 1980s when their first child, a son, was young. While she was in New Orleans for about a year, she had help from her family. Later she was part of the Navy Reserve Cargo Unit at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna.
Caldwell received training in firefighting and weapons in New Orleans.
“I learned how a ship went, how to put out fires, how to put on all your (fire) suit and then all that chemical weapons suit, mask and all,” she said.
“When I was sent to Iraq, you had seconds to put on all your gear, including your gas mask and protective gear, along with your gun,” she said.
Because of Iraq’s history of chemical weapons use, seafarers should be prepared for exposure, she said.
“When someone said ‘chemical weapons’ you had to put all your equipment on and make sure it was secure,” she said. “You were concerned about chemical weapons at the time. So that was part of the training. “
Caldwell said her unit had to be up at 2:30 a.m. during her time on base in New Orleans and ready to start her day at 3 a.m.
“We had the uniform of the day. It had to be flawless. It couldn’t be out of place or the drill sergeants would force you to do pushups, ”she said. “You had to know the rank of the people because some people got irritated if you didn’t greet the people who deserved greeting. They would test you on it. “
Her duties at the New Orleans base included patrolling the grounds at night, but not the front gate. “I went through the base and made sure that all Navy and Navy personnel were following the instructions that were to be followed at the time,” she said.
She also needed to know the terminology necessary to function on a ship, such as “aft” which means behind the ship; Rudder, which is the rudder of the ship; or bulkhead, which is an upright wall in the hull of a ship.
“I had to know every detail,” she said. “Even though I was a canteen specialist, I had to be able to jump into a position if someone was injured or something went wrong on this ship. I had to be able to walk a bit. “
Caldwell said there was no difference in the education of men and women.
“We have all been thrown together and you all have to prove to yourself that you are doing what is required,” she said. “There was no separation of the jobs we did. As a woman, you have to prove yourself even harder to prove that you deserve to be there. If someone messes up, and as part of a unit, you face all the consequences of having to rely on each other. Either you save someone’s life or they will save yours, so you always have to have someone behind you. “
Caldwell spent approximately 18 months on ship and ashore in Kuwait in 1996 and 1997. It was canceled after she suffered a heart attack in 1997 at the age of 32. This led to her honorable discharge from the Navy Reserve in 1998.
“I took so many pills after the heart attack,” she said. “I took pills for insomnia. I took pills to wake up. “
She said that her time in Kuwait gave her combat experience ashore.
“I had to shoot people because they shot me,” she said. “You’re out there to protect people. You try to be kind to people, but you worry about bombs all the time. Maybe you need to go through all of this. It’s in your head. “
Her time in the military led her to view the threats with caution that persist to this day.
“You are always on your guard wherever you are,” she said. “I’m no longer in the military, but because of my training, I think, ‘I don’t like having my back to a door that I can’t open.’
“Or I always look for the exit. Everywhere I go, now that I’m a civilian, I still have this training thought on my mind. It is there. It just won’t go away. “
Caldwell said an incident on a ship had led her to major internal conflict over contracts she had received during a time of crisis she believed she could not carry out.
Part of the ship took in water, and her supervisor ordered a hatch closed to endanger the lives of other sailors on the other side.
“We tried to do our best (to repair the damage), but then this bulkhead broke and water started flowing in,” she said. “We were told to close it and go, but there were people on the other side, other men and women on the other side. You could have died. “
The philosophy behind such a decision is “to sacrifice some for the many or to sacrifice some for the greater good,” she said.
“It turned out good. We could use welding to fix the bulkhead against the incoming water, but we were told to close it and get out. It went well for me. “
Caldwell has four children, ages 27 to 35, who grew up in the Youngstown area, but their children now live across the country. After retiring from the military, she worked for several years as a canteen assistant in the Youngstown City Schools and later in a daycare center and now looks after grandparents.
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