An honest reason for not wanting to join. Thanks. Most hide behind protest rhetoric.
Not many people in the Navy get exposed to hostile fire. Furthermore, since you're a girl, it makes it even more unlikely you will be in a rate (job) that entails combat. So it's unlikely you'll die in Iraq... or anywhere else... except of old age.
As for a secretary in the Navy, at the Pentagon, as I recall, they go through GSA (General Services Administration). I'd presume it's that way at bases. GSA has offices in most large cities where there is a base. I went to their site (
(http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/home.do?tabId=0) and didn't see much in the way of entry level stuff. But you could always go to a Navy Base and inquire... or call. I'd suggest you become competent on MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook--especially the meeting-scheduling feature, Access, and Publisher... maybe even Project), that should be a great help. Most secretaries seem only barely aware that some of those applications exist.
But, tell you what. Some guys who entered the service with me got out after 4 and went to work. Some of them, in 20 years gradually worked their ways up from the mail room, or wherever they started. They worked 60 hours a week, but they made it. They finally got into one of those large corner offices with all the windows... way up in those tall office buildings. And they dreamed about action, adventure, travel... all the stuff I did for 25 years. I retired at 45. I started a second career in management consulting with a Big-5 consulting firm. I retired 15 years later from that job. Now, with two checks coming in, and a reasonable bank account, I don't have to work. Oh, those guys in the corner offices? Well, they're still working 50 hours a week and they're still dreaming.
If you go into the Navy, you'll have an opportunity to take college classes on the Navy. You'll also be able to build up a sizable college fund so you can get a degree when you get out.
I don't know if they (the Navy) still has it,but there used to be a program whereby the Navy would put your through school, after which you would get your commission. I believe the obligation was 6 of 8 years, but yo might consider that.
Addendum...
Somebody posted the terrible conditions aboard a Carrier. I was injured and was treated aboard a Carrier. Most of the guys have air-conditioned bunks. Some of them were stacked three high, but when you're sleeping, what difference does it make if the "ceiling" is three feet, or eight feet above your head.. And seldom is below decks on a carrier ever blacked out. It's like a city with stores, a gym where you can work out, fast-food places, barbers, a hospital, radio and TV stations, a library, a great hospital, dentists, several 24/7 cafeteria-style "mess halls"... a carrier even has an airport.
The poster complained about lack of privacy. Privacy for what? I've been aboard a sub too, and they have so much less privacy. And, in a sub, one can't always go up on deck for a breath of fresh air. Aboard a sub they have a procedure called "warm bunks." Because of lack of space, one has to share a bunk with three others. Each has it for 8 hours. When one gets up, another is going to bed. On a carrier, everybody has his (or her) own bunk.
On a ship... of any kind, remember, "UP and FORWARD (toward the pointy end for landlubbers), STARBOARD (right side of the ship for landlubbers), DOWN and AFT (toward the back porch), PORT (left side)."