NORFOLK, Va. - Growing up in an urban city in Vietnam, surrounded with the smell of coffee beans and vegetable gardens, this Vietnamese teenager had her head in books with a desire to become a teacher one day. With her mother and father supporting the family by growing coffee beans and truck driving, they worked hard to pay for extra tutoring to help them with their studies to be able to go to college one day.
Ensign Thuong Nguyen, USS Iwo Jima’s disbursing officer, was born in Dak Lak, Vietnam, where she had a humble life dedicated to school until the age of 16-years old, but limitations to their families goals motivated her family to migrate to the United States.
“We had chickens, ducks and the farm over there,” said Nguyen. “We had money coming from the coffee beans and truck driving, but for my parents to support all three of us to go to college, they could not afford that.”
The opportunity for the family to move to the United States was not paved without hard sacrifice and consequences for fighting for the losing side of the Vietnam War.
“In Vietnam, when you try to get a job working for the government they track your family history to determine if someone fought for South Vietnam during the Vietnam War,” said Nguyen. “My grandpa worked for the South Vietnam Army and we lost. He moved the family to central Vietnam in a forested region such as Dak Lak to help hide his identity after the war.”
After North Vietnam won the war against the United States, they conducted investigations on their population to identify those who served for South Vietnam. Her grandpa’s true identity was discovered and he was sent to a reeducation camp for eight years.
“When he got out from the reeducation camp, he just looked like a skeleton,” said Nguyen.
In 1996, he was able to come to the United States due to his previous service in the SVA and the hardship that it brought upon him and his family.
“Then when he became a U.S. citizen in 2002 I think then he did the paperwork for us to come to the U.S.,” said Nguyen. “My other two uncles, they are single so they go with my grandpa. My dad had a family so that's why he had to stay.”
While Nguyen’s grandparents and uncles lived in the United States, her father continued to suffer from the loss of social status, marked as a traitor stuck in a future that lacked the ambitions of their family. In order to provide for a brighter future for Nguyen and her brothers, her father decided to come to the United States arriving in October 2013.
“My goal before coming to the United States was to study to become a teacher, especially as a female there, there is a lot of respect for teachers in Vietnam,” said Nguyen. “When I go to the U.S., my career path changed. When I saw that teachers here don't have much respect from the students as they do in Vietnam.”
Nguyen’s aunt, who was a professor at a college in the United States, gave her some career advice that set her up to where she is at today.
“She said accounting is a good plan for me because I can get a job everywhere,” said Nguyen. “So that's why I chose to go with accounting.”
There were many obstacles for Nguyen and her family those first few years when they got to Virginia Beach, Virginia to live near her grandparents and uncles.
“My English is still really bad,” said Nguyen. “So when I moved to the U.S. I didn't speak English. It is very hard to communicate with people. The good thing is the teachers in school tried to help me after school. Some teachers printed assignments in Vietnamese using Google translate. Then they also pull me out from the class to teach me one-on-one also.”
Language wasn’t the only challenge Nguyen and her family had to overcome in Virginia Beach. Through more adversity, her parents and siblings became a solid family unit, supporting each other through the challenges. Her parents worked hard for them to continue to study in high school and then onto college. However, sometimes tensions come from family too.
“We sold our house in Vietnam and gave the money to our uncle in the U.S. with the understanding that we would get the money back,” said Nguyen. “My father worked for him but was never getting paid, even when he received tips from customers, our uncle took it from him. My mother cleaned the house and took care of the kids. We were so poor. My aunt would come home and scream 'Why didn’t you clean that, or do that?’”
While going to Baseline High School, Nguyen was earning academic achievements.
“I earned achievements and recognitions, but when I brought them home my grandma would say that I paid to get that award,” said Nguyen.
Nguyen’s family endured feeling unwelcomed for almost a year before they were able to get government supported housing and ultimately cut off ties with her uncle.
While attending the high school, military recruiters would visit the school and Nguyen put her name down to be contacted by Navy recruiters. Every few months she would get calls from a Navy recruiter, even while she started attending college at Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University.
The Navy recruiters kept planting the idea in the back of Nguyen’s mind of joining the Navy.
After graduating from college, she worked for an accounting firm. She enjoyed working there and the people were great to work with, but something was missing that could not be filled by weekly social outings and catered lunches.
“Later on, after that conversation, my aunt initially didn't want me to join the military because, first, I would become government property, and second, she believed it wasn't a good environment for a female,” said Nguyen. “She encouraged me to find a job outside and start a family instead. However, after working at an accounting firm for two years, I realized there weren't enough opportunities for growth.”
Another motivating factor for joining the Navy was sibling rivalry. As the oldest child in her family, Nguyen felt a considerable amount of pressure to serve as a role model for her two younger brothers. When her brother graduated from college and secured a job with the city of Virginia Beach as a civilian engineer, Nguyen began to feel overshadowed in her parents' eyes.
"Yes, my dad used to brag about me since I was the oldest, but now he constantly talks about my brother's achievements,” said Nguyen. “My brother had good grades, and my dad wanted me to set the example for my siblings. However, my brother is doing so well, and even after working in accounting for two years, I found it hard to compare myself to him. I've felt like I've been in a safe place for too long, and that's why I needed to make a change."
Now that Nguyen has joined the Navy as a supply corps officer, her younger brothers are considering joining her in the service. However, the Navy wasn’t an easy adjustment for Nguyen, she still had to overcome language barriers as well as new naval customs and culture.
"It was a challenging experience,” said Nguyen. “I knew nothing about the Navy before being sent to Officer Candidate School, and that was my first encounter with drill instructors. They yelled a lot, and the Marine Gunnery Sergeants were incredibly fierce. It was a real awakening for me."
After being assigned to her first command, USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) homeported in Norfolk, in 2023, Nguyen has new goals, such as getting her supply corps officer pin as well as go to school for her master’s degree and become a certified public accountant.
She was one the very few officers that selected Norfolk after OCS because she wanted to be close to her family. She still supports her parents and helped them buy a house too.
"Yes, I still handle the bills and take care of all the paperwork for my mom and dad,” said Nguyen. Sometimes I even take them to the hospital for check-ups. I continue to support my family because they are my heart and soul; without them, I wouldn’t be who I am today."
Nguyen’s parents and her brothers are the driving force to her success aboard Iwo Jima.
"The most valuable lesson in my life has been the importance of perseverance,” said Nguyen. “When we first arrived in the U.S., we faced judgment and prejudice because of our poverty. My parents constantly encouraged us to focus on our studies and not let others bring us down. They reminded us that our futures are brighter than the challenges we face, urging us to work hard and improve ourselves for a better tomorrow."