amended the fiscal-year 1979 Defense Authorization Act to allow the assignment of women to
ships, but at the Navy’s urging women were still barred from combat ships. In 1979, Navy
women became eligible for a number of shipboard duties for the first time (Women’s Research
and Education Institute, 2003).
Men weren’t drafted into the Navy in the post World War II period, but with the end of
conscription and the resulting loss of draft-motivated volunteers, the Navy, like the other
services, began to recruit heavily in the early 1970s. In the early years of the all-volunteer force,
Navy recruiting ads mainly focused on benefits. Some juxtaposed early recruiting posters with
pictures of modern life in the Navy. These ads claim that the old benefits of Navy life, like
world travel, haven’t disappeared, but now new benefits and good job training are also available.
They end with the slogans, “Be someone special in The New Navy” and “Be a Success in the
New Navy.” Continuing with the “be someone special” theme, the Navy ran a series of ads
which focused on training and skill development, but stressed that the kinds of jobs one would
get in the Navy were interesting and fulfilling, and they frequently differentiated naval life from
civilian life, painting Navy life as more challenging and worthwhile. Several of the ads from the
first half of the 1970s offer young men a masculine pride in work that is both physically and
mentally challenging. The emphasis on physicality, toughness, and mental challenge in Navy
recruiting materials continued in the late 1970s and was joined by a new focus on adventure and
testing oneself. Many ads from this period show dramatic pictures of a ship in an open expanse
of ocean or a submarine surfacing, and they begin to use the slogan, “It’s not just a job, it’s an
adventure.” In the 1980s, the Navy continued to use that slogan, but the tenor of the ads
changed, and instead of emphasizing challenge and adventure, they highlight career
opportunities, technical skill, and personal development. Throughout the 1980s, Navy recruiting
materials made the traditionally masculine offers of adventure, challenge, and discipline, but also
promised young men the masculine achievements of mastery of complex technology and career
advancement.
During the first two decades of the AVF, Navy recruiting ads make occasional references
to women as sailors, visually and textually, but the idea that women are a regular part of the
Navy is repeatedly undercut. (Of course, women weren’t a regular part of the Navy since they
were restricted from so many duties.) Some ads refer specifically to men, like one that ran in
Popular Mechanics in 1973 which shows a picture of a man at a control panel and includes the
copy, “any man who learns to operate or repair the Navy’s sophisticated electronic systems or
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Convention