SBHS graduate joined the service after graduation
By: Rebecca Tokarz
While her friends spent their time writing college essays and interviewing at their prospective colleges, Kathleen Katora studied military terminology and prepared for boot camp and life in the Navy.
Influenced by an itch to travel and follow in her stepfather’s footsteps, the 2000 South Brunswick High School graduate decided to join the Navy while she still was attending high school. Her stepfather, Jerry Wojciewski, served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and currently serves as Commander of the South Brunswick Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9111.
"I wasn’t a bookworm I wanted to do something interesting and different," Airman Katora, 19, said.
Since opting to join the Navy, Airman Katora’s life has been a roller coaster of constant training, preparation and traveling. Her naval training started while she was still in high school, as Airman Katora participated in the Delayed Entry Program, where naval recruits learn about naval ships, medical procedures, first aid and the history of the Navy and some aircraft with their recruiting officers prior to entering boot camp.
The lessons allowed Airman Katora to enter boot camp in August 2001 as an E-2 recruit, while many of her fellow recruits entered as E-1. Officers who hold a ranking of E-4 and above serve as supervisors to the lower ranking officers.
Airman Katora said she enjoyed the three months of waking as early 4:30 a.m. and going straight through until 10 p.m. that was part of life in boot camp. It was not uncommon for recruits, including herself, to fall asleep during classes.
"We were always doing something," Airman Katora said.
The three-month training program enabled her to work out in the gym, something the now E-3 ranking officer said she enjoyed the most during her time in camp and unfortunately, has little time to do while now that she is stationed on a naval carrier.
Since graduating from boot camp in November 2001, Airman Katora, the youngest member of the VFW Post 9111, has been assigned to the USS George Washington, a naval ship that holds more than 6,000 crew members. The ship travels throughout the world and has a flight deck that is as long as approximately four and a half football fields.
The ship serves as an aircraft launching base performing training missions and flight simulations using fake targets.
Airman Katora is in charge of preparing the aircraft before it launches. Her team ensures the catapults and launching gear are secure and ready to launch the aircraft. When all is clear at its work station, the group confers with other work stations involved in the pre-launching process. When each station is cleared, the team notifies the shooter, who presses the button and the aircraft takes off, Airman Katora said.
In order to advance to another job, Airman Katora said she must be disciplined and teach herself how to perform another task on the ship. Officers must work with a mentor who works at their future work station and teach themselves how to operate that work station. To ensure that only the best of the best are selected to advance, written and oral examinations must be taken, Airman Katora said.
While the working atmosphere is competitive, life outside of work reminds Airman Katora of the life she left behind in high school.
With more than 6,000 people on the ship, there is a great deal of fighting, bickering and immaturity among the members of the crew, Airman Katora said.
After six months out to sea and visits to several foreign countries including Italy, Portugal, Greece and Slovenia, Airman Katora is currently on leave from the ship, which is docked at the Norfolk Naval Base, located in Norfolk, Va. She will return to the ship at the end of January.
Although she is not expected back at the base until the end of the month, the impending war with Iraq means the ship and its crew are on call.
Airman Katora said the ship is always "battle ready" and could receive notification at any time a prospect she is not looking forward to.
"I’m not liking that I don’t want to go back there," she said.
The Sept. 11 tragedies were hard enough to handle. Airman Katora was in the midst of a marching drill during boot camp when her superiors stopped the drill to inform the group about what had occurred.
That day changed the way Airman Katora looked at her time in the service.
"It makes you feel that you have a purpose and a reason for being there," she said.
Airman Katora has another three years before she performs shore duty, where she will spend her service time on a naval land base instead of on a naval vessel.
After her service time is complete, Airman Katora is unsure if she will continue serving in the Navy. She said she thinks she will attend college and study something related to the field of science, although she is unsure what.
"I’ve always had a knack for wildlife I can’t do that in the Navy," Airman Katora said.

