Female officer gets 'top technician' honor
.jpg?w=728)
Yoo Ji-hyun / Courtesy of the ROK Navy
By Kim Hyo-jin
Yoo Ji-hyun, 33, a noncommissioned officer in the Navy, has obtained the certificate of master craftsman for her excellent handling of communication facilities ― the first woman in the Navy to awarded the status.
“Chief Petty Officer Yoo Ji-hyun who works on the 7,600-ton Aegis destroyer Yulgok Yi I passed the national license test in late May to become a Master Craftsman of communication facilities,” the Navy said. “She is the first woman to get the license.”
Master Craftsman is the highest degree in the technician’s licensing. Only experts who have over five years of field experience or over nine years of related work are qualified to take the test.
Noting the expertise of noncommissioned officers is a key to managing a state-of-the-art warship, the Navy said that for Petty Officer Yoo to acquire her license strengthens the combat ability of her ship.
“A Navy noncommissioned officer, a technical expert, has to sustain arduous efforts to keep the combat ability of her ship at its best. I went for the license test, hoping to become a sailor who fulfills her given mission,” Yoo said.
She achieved the goal in 14 months after she started preparation for the test in March 2015. She did not have easy conditions for studying however.
A mother of two children, a primary school student and a kindergartener, she was only able to study late at night after putting them to bed. Her husband, being a member of the Navy Ship Salvage Unit, was unable to lessen the burden. When the ship was called out, Yoo reduced her sleep so she could study after completing her eight hours of duty on board.
The Navy said it was notable that Yoo gained her expertise in communication facilities solely from her naval career.
Yoo, hopeful of becoming a flight attendant when she was younger, majored in airline cabin service management during her college years. On the recommendation of her father Yoo Dong-jin, a Navy master chief petty officer in the reserve, she enlisted in the Navy in 2003, becoming its first female noncommissioned officer.
Starting her career with no technical knowledge, Yoo learned step by step about communication equipment while working on the fast combat support ship Daecheong, the destroyer Moonmu the Great and at the Navy Fleet Command for 13 years.
Being the first female noncom, she pushed herself hard to become more competent in her job, Yoo said.
“Being a noncommissioned officer with expertise in my work, communication, I’ll do my best to support our sailors to make our combat ability be the best it can be,” she said.