Melissa Anderson prepares herself for a day land navigation exercise on Fort Huachuca on Saturday. (By Bill Hess-Herald/Review)
Posted on 10/29/2006 3:27:10 PM PST by SandRat
FORT HUACHUCA — Determination.
If anything can be said about Melissa Anderson, it is that she has a specific goal in mind and the drive to achieve it — in a word the 24-year-old woman has determination. Just ask Army Lt. Col. Jim Gallagher, who found himself on the defensive when he questioned the mother of four and wife of a Fort Huachuca soldier if she knew the difficulties of not only being a university student, but one who was seeking to enter the military Reserve Officers Training Corps Program at the University of Arizona.
Although Anderson has more than a working knowledge of military protocol — she was an enlisted soldier and is married to a soldier — she said when she talked with Gallagher, “I probably wasn’t too polite.”
Gallagher said she never crossed the line into disrespect, but she did make her points, turning his questions back on him as she rebutted his concerns.
Anderson said she wants to become an Army officer and eventually become a military lawyer.
Gallagher said to accept her into the ROTC program meant having four waivers approved.
Because she has four children, one less would have eliminated a need for that major waiver, Gallagher said his concerns were whether she could handle the pressure of helping raise a family, going to the university full time — she is a junior working on a political science degree and has a 4.0 grade point average — and driving from the fort to Tucson at least three times a week to attend physical training (PT) and ROTC classes, he said.
Currently, Anderson takes her political science classes at the University of Arizona South in Sierra Vista.
One day Anderson showed up for PT, “and she looked wiped out,” the professor of military science said.
He found out that she had not had much sleep in 48 hours because her 2-year-old son, Samuel, had been air-evacuated from the area to a hospital in Tucson.
“I asked her, ‘What are you doing here?’ ” the lieutenant colonel said.
She responded, ‘To do PT,’ Gallagher said.
During the office discussion about going on to obtain the waivers, Gallagher, who admitted he was not initially supportive of the request, said he expressed concerns about the workload she was going to face in light of all her responsibilities.
He still remembers her asking him, “Don’t you think I can take care of my family, while I go to college and being in ROTC?”
It was then Gallagher said, “She had me on the defense.”
Gallagher knew she was a dedicated student and each expression of concern he made was turned around with her responding she has the stamina, the support and the desire to become a ROTC cadet, with a contract.
Anderson said having a contract meant she is going to give the Army her service as an officer.
Goal-driven, she said she has complete support of her husband and others.
Returning to college as a junior, she earned an associate’s degree when she was 18, Anderson said, “I have a passion, to earn a (bachelor’s) degree and to serve in the Army.”
The ROTC program was another lane in her educational goal.
Gallagher said after listening to her at the meeting, attended by two other members of his staff, “she convinced me.”
As for the other two staff members, like he, “they were stunned by Anderson and her determination.”
What Anderson does is look for challenges to be changed into opportunities, he said.
“She views life as a challenge and an opportunity,” he said.
“I’ve never met a person who is so positive.”
After meeting with her, Gallagher walked over to the hospital where her son was being treated.
Anderson said her son has a lung condition that occasionally causes bad bouts of asthma.
As Gallagher walked into the boy’s room he saw Jared on the bed, with Samuel on his chest comforting the child.
Talking to Anderson’s husband, the lieutenant colonel came away that as a family, wife and husband supported each other, their children and as such worked as a unit to achieve all their goals.
And, the family not only supports each other, they come to ROTC events in Tucson and help with projects, like cleaning up the UA stadium after home football games.
It’s a family affair, he said of the cleanup.
Anderson said her husband and children help — well, not 7-month-old Arabella — but 4-year-old Elizabeth, 3-year-old Magdalyne and Samuel pitch in picking up trash.
The Army ROTC battalion is paid to do the work and the money is used for special unit program.
The battalion’s senior officer said Anderson shows up for every event and many times the family comes, too.
While Gallagher was changed by her, there was another hurdle — getting the waiver requests through his superior, Col. Michael Johnson, who commands the Army’s ROTC 14th Brigade, consisting of 19 universities in the four states of Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.
The two officers engaged in an e-mail correspondence, with the senior man not wanting to support the waiver requests.
Eventually, Johnson said he was coming to the UA and, as part of the trip, wanted to meet Anderson.
Although Gallagher wasn’t present at the meeting, he said Johnson came out of it amazed by Anderson.
“She’s the only one he met that day. She wowed him,” Gallagher said.
Johnson could have ended Anderson’s dream then and there, but he said he would approve the requested waivers, Gallagher said.
With his OK, it was just a matter for the paperwork to continue on its upward trail for final approval.
Friday, the UA battalion was informed it is a go for Anderson to sign the contract, which will provide her at least a $300 month stipend.
Monday, Anderson will sign the contract at the PT formation, he said.
Gallagher said he is now going to seek a full scholarship for her as well, and if approved it will be worth more than $5,000 a year as she pursues her degree.
The thing that continues to impress him is that Anderson makes no excuses when she has problems.
“She always looks for solutions,” Gallagher said.
When she first started in the program in August, her youngest child had only been born a few months earlier, he said.
Anderson said she knew she wasn’t yet physically fit for the arduous PT, but “I had to start.”
Obtaining a 140 out of 300 points on her first test, she said she knew she had to do much better.
“My last test score was 210,” Anderson said.
Gallagher said because of her determination — there’s that word again — Anderson looked for people who could help her establish a regime to build her physical training.
Saying she’s not a quitter, Gallagher said Anderson listens, takes advice and fine-tunes it to do better the next time.
Saturday, she and others had to go through a day land navigation exercise. There were six areas they had to reach and passing was four of the six.
“I got three of them,” Anderson said, remarking it was her first time doing land navigation since basic training many years ago.
In basic training, land navigation was an instructor telling soldiers to follow a specific compass heading and pointed them in the direction.
“We followed each other and had to cross a road and it was over,” she said.
But, the next time she does a land navigation exercise, Anderson said “I’ll do better now that I know what has to be done.”
At the confidence course on Fort Huachuca, she went through the highs — climbing up nets and rails — and lows — crawling under barbed wire.
Like others, she encouraged her fellow cadets.
What Anderson is looking forward to Monday is putting her signature on the contract.
And, so is Gallagher.
“She’s really refreshing,” he said.
Sidebar story. This has to accompany main piece.
By Bill Hess
Herald/ Review
FORT HUACHUCA — Melissa Anderson is a cadet staff sergeant and squad leader in the Wildcat Battalion of the University of Arizona’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Program.
Unlike many of the cadets in the battalion, she has to drive from Fort Huachuca to Tucson, three days a week — Monday, Wednesday and Friday — to take part in ROTC events.
Those three days a week involve getting up at 3 a.m.
“My husband gets up the same time and we have breakfast together,” she said.
Her husband, Jared, is an Army staff sergeant assigned to the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion, where he is a interrogator instructor.
At 4:15 a.m. she is out the door for the drive to the UA campus, arriving around 5:30 a.m., in time for the hour-long physical training that starts at 6 a.m.
Between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. she does her college homework, as she works on her degree in political science. At 10 a.m. she attends an ROTC class.
Preparing for classes during those hours gives her more time with her four children, Elizabeth, 4; Magdalyne, 3; Samuel, 2; and Arabella, 7 months, when she’s home.
Hailing from California, she met her New York husband while both were attending the Defense Language Institute in California.
The family is schedule-oriented, and it helps that her husband’s sister lives with them and takes care of the children.
But, both she and her husband ensure they spend time with their three daughters and one son.
Her political science classes are done at the University of Arizona South campus in Sierra Vista, and that means leaving Tucson to make sure she makes those courses in time.
Next semester, she will attend classes at the main campus in Tucson.
This weekend, she was with about 85 other members of the Wildcat Battalion in the ROTC equivalent of a field training exercise (FTX).
The area the battalion was staying at is in Garden Canyon, and right across the road from her bivouac area is where her husband is during his unit’s FTX, where his interrogation students are going through training.
Of her husband, Anderson said he supports her in her goal to get her college degree, be a member of the ROTC and become an officer.
“I’m blessed to have him as a husband. Every woman should be lucky to have a husband who supports her as Jared does me,” she said.
Although the other members of the ROTC battalion are returning to Tucson this morning, where they will do some additional training, Anderson got permission to remain behind.
Her daughter Elizabeth is part of a church play today.
“She has one line, and I’m going to be there to hear her say it,” the mother, wife and future Army officer said.
Melissa Anderson prepares herself for a day land navigation exercise on Fort Huachuca on Saturday. (By Bill Hess-Herald/Review)
FORT HUACHUCA — Melissa Anderson is a cadet staff sergeant and squad leader in the Wildcat Battalion of the University of Arizona’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Program.
Unlike many of the cadets in the battalion, she has to drive from Fort Huachuca to Tucson, three days a week — Monday, Wednesday and Friday — to take part in ROTC events. Those three days a week involve getting up at 3 a.m.
“My husband gets up the same time and we have breakfast together,” she said.
Her husband, Jared, is an Army staff sergeant assigned to the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion, where he is a interrogator instructor.
At 4:15 a.m. she is out the door for the drive to the UA campus, arriving around 5:30 a.m., in time for the hour-long physical training that starts at 6 a.m.
Between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. she does her college homework, as she works on her degree in political science. At 10 a.m. she attends an ROTC class.
Preparing for classes during those hours gives her more time with her four children, Elizabeth, 4; Magdalyne, 3; Samuel, 2; and Arabella, 7 months, when she’s home.
Hailing from California, she met her New York husband while both were attending the Defense Language Institute in California.
The family is schedule-oriented, and it helps that her husband’s sister lives with them and takes care of the children.
But, both she and her husband ensure they spend time with their three daughters and one son.
Her political science classes are done at the University of Arizona South campus in Sierra Vista, and that means leaving Tucson to make sure she makes those courses in time.
Next semester, she will attend classes at the main campus in Tucson.
This weekend, she was with about 85 other members of the Wildcat Battalion in the ROTC equivalent of a field training exercise (FTX).
The area the battalion was staying at is in Garden Canyon, and right across the road from her bivouac area is where her husband is during his unit’s FTX, where his interrogation students are going through training.
Of her husband, Anderson said he supports her in her goal to get her college degree, be a member of the ROTC and become an officer.
“I’m blessed to have him as a husband. Every woman should be lucky to have a husband who supports her as Jared does me,” she said.
Although the other members of the ROTC battalion are returning to Tucson this morning, where they will do some additional training, Anderson got permission to remain behind.
Her daughter Elizabeth is part of a church play today.
“She has one line, and I’m going to be there to hear her say it,” the mother, wife and future Army officer said.
herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
I would think women will be rising in the ranks. What a great story thank you for the post.
She and her family will be added to my prayer list.
Melissa needs to mother her kids.
That is the best contribution she can make to society.
You can't do an adequate job as a mom while going to school full time and doing ROTC.
But no one will say anything because we are all supposed to admire this woman.
Life is about choices. The choice to be a mom of 4 young kids cuts off other choices, such as the choice to devote the bulk of ones time and energy to going to school full-time and doing ROTC.
And I forgot: everyone in her unit will be expected to be understanding and do extra work or ignore her absence when family issues come up.
By the way, if her husband were at home nurturing the kids, then my view would be different. But the article makes it clear that they both have full-time schedules - he is on active duty in the Army.
Poor kids.
How many times will she be asking for such special permission to get out of the duties everyone else has to do?
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