Woman named captain of local Coast Guard ship

CLEVELAND - The Coast Guard is the oldest of the nation’s military branches, and at 221 years old it is long on tradition.

Part of the tradition includes the nickname of "the old man" reserved for the captain of the ship. On Aug. 11, it was announced that Lt. Molly Waters had become the Coast Guard Cutter Neah Bays' new commanding officer. That's right: “The old man” is a woman.

“I supposed they could call me 'the old woman,' 'the old bag.' Either of which won’t bother me,” Lt. Waters said.

“I feel like I’ve never been treated differently because I am a woman. I have had every opportunity one could possibly image. And I’ve only had to compete on basis of my qualifications and my merits,” Lt. Waters said.

A 2003 Coast Guard Academy graduate the lieutenant has seen duty on an ice breaker, a buoy tender patrol vessel in the Caribbean and directed oil tanker traffic in Alaska.

“I think that you could definitely feel that there was some sort of division whether it be male or female, or higher rank, lower rank,” David Garrido with the U.S. Coast Guard said. “It’s just not like that anymore. Everybody works together more as a team.”