Brenda Brubaker Collection

Oral history interview with Brenda Brubaker
Primarily documents the life of Brenda M. Brubaker and her service with the United States Navy Nurse Corps. Brubaker shares her intense opposition to war, most notably the Vietnam War, but the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. She also discusses how she thinks it's interesting that she can hold an oppositional opinion to war and still serve in the military because, as she saw it, she was helping the wounded, rather than supporting the war. Brubaker shares her belief that the quality of corpsmen in the military dropped when it became an all-volunteer military, as the recruits did not possess the same skills and knowledge level as the college-bound men who had been drafted in the past. She also discusses her disillusionment with the U.S. government for drafting men for war and then not provide the medical and psychiatric care they needed upon returning. Brubaker discusses her time in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps as a good learning experience and a chance to do and see things she wouldn't normally have been able to. She also recalls the thrill of being in Officer Candidate School with some of the first female pilots to complete OCS; the opportunity to treat American prisoners of war (POWs) returning from Vietnam; and the excitement of learning cutting-edge medical and psychiatric treatments.
Portrait of Brenda Brubaker
Portrait of Brenda Brubaker in nurse's uniform