Things My Yeoman Taught Me
Why Officers Need Handlers
Petty Officer First Class Pam Mitchell Guy was my yeoman when I was Director, Information Resources Division (Code 73) for Commander, Navy Recruiting Command (CNRC) in the mid-80s. Her purpose in life was to keep me in line, although I initially had this strange idea she was supposed to handle the multitude of administrative tasks in my division. Pam got assigned to us shortly after I accidentally staged a coup and got my former boss fired.
In the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, the enlisted rating of yeoman describes an enlisted service member who performs administrative and clerical work ashore and embarked aboard vessels at sea. They deal with protocol, naval instructions, enlisted evaluations, commissioned officer fitness reports, naval messages, visitors, telephone calls and mail (both conventional and electronic). They organize files and operate office equipment and order and distribute office supplies. They write and type business and social letters, notices, directives, forms and reports. -Wikipedia
“Ah like officers, Lieutenant,” she once told me in her western Maryland mountain twang. “If this Navy didn’t have officers, Ah wouldn’t have a job. And sometimes, Ah get to make their life a livin’ hell, and it’s all part of mah job description.” She grinned. “Ah love mah job.”
