The aims of this social-historical, qualitative study were to describe the recruitment and selection process of nursing officers for the Women's Auxiliary Corps of Naval Reserve, and to analyze the incorporation process of the military habitus by the nurses who passed the final exam during the training course. The study used written documents and oral testimonies of four nurses who composed the first class. The data, collected from January to October 2010, were organized, sorted and analyzed according to the historical method and Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and field. The training process of the first female nursing officers in the Navy comprised the rigorous incorporation of certain distinct and distinctive determinations related to the behavior required from female military officers, especially in terms of interdictions that reaffirmed male power. In conclusion, the incorporation of the military habitus, through the learning of symbols and military gestures, marked the identity construction of female nursing officers.
Nursing; History of nursing; Military nursing
