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(Bright Music)

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- [Woman] Even though
I had a college degree,

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I was hired as the clerk typist,

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and they sent me to work
with guys that graduated

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from Harvard and Yale, with
degrees in engineering.

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The only people who could touch
the computer were engineers,

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but I had to go into the
computer every morning

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to compare metallic tapes.

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And I said to the guy
operating the computer,

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teach me to operate the
computer. "And he said no.

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"If I teach you to operate the
computer you'd have my job."

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Well you can't let me stand
here and watch somebody

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do something for a
couple of weeks and think

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I'm not going to catch
on to what they're doing.

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So, about two weeks later, all
the engineers called in sick,

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and no one came out to operate for me.

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So I walked over to the computer,

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and slowly but surely

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started to flip the switches,

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and he walked over slowly and said,

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"Raye, I didn't know you knew
how to operate the computer."

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I said I don't.

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He said, "well, what are you doing?"

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I said well I know how to do
enough to get my job done.

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He said, "fine, you know
more than any of the

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"rest of us here, so from
now on this is your job."

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So I created every job I had after that.

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President Nixon was in office,

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and he called the Navy

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and he told them that
there was a new ship design

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coming up, and instead of
it taking the two years

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that it normally takes,
he wanted the Navy to do

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the rough draft of it in two months.

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And the admirals came to me

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and said,

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"young lady, we understand
you've got a system

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"to design ships.

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"It normally takes two
years to do a rough draft.

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"The president has given the Navy

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"two months."

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I brought that rascal in
in 18 hours and 26 minutes.

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And for that, my career just took off.

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My first ship was the

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Oliver Hazard Perry Class,

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and I put two general
electric LM2500 engines on it,

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so that rascal could speed.

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The next ship I worked on
was the LHA #1 Landing Craft

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Helicopter Assault Weapons System.

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I'm just so proud of it.

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I feel so good when I

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hear about some of the
ships that I've worked on

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still being in the fleet,

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and to know that

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(heavy machine gun firing)

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I'm still fighting for my country.

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You know there's no

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ifs, ans, or buts about it.

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I am still out there,

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and regardless of what
anybody says we've got a

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great country, and I'm very proud of it.

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I had to fight like the
devil to get in there

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to do what I needed to do,
but look at what I've done,

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and look at how our guys

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and gals are using this stuff

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and defending our country,

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and I'm living to see this.

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So, the little girl,

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from when my mother talked to me,

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and then the little girl who saw the sub,

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when I was seven, I would tell her now,

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you can do it, you can handle it.

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And the important thing
for you is to open doors

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for other people. (somber music)