Personal Narrative: A Career As An Army National Guard

As an Army National Guard I was determined to do things that would set me apart from others. I started out my career as a Quartermaster Chemical Equipment Repairer and then converting over to a Light Wheel Vehicle Mechanic. I was the only female mechanic in my company. My older brother was a Sergeant First Class in my Company and he always pushed me to do different things. He knew how much I hated the stigma of “Females are not equal to Males’, in the Army. So one day I was talking to my grandfather and he said to me, “Baby girl what is your greatest fear?” I had to think for a moment and I said, “I’m afraid of flying.” So the next day my grandfather took me down to the airport to just watch the airplanes take off and land. I was trying to figure out what he was trying to show me. He then turned around and said, “You would make a great Pilot.” I looked at him like he was crazy and said, “Grandad, do you really think so?” He said “Yes I do, even though you are afraid.” I paused for a minute and …show more content…
I never thought about it after that. I continued on being a mechanic and at the time being a mentor for the other females in my unit that was amazed by what I was doing. A few years later my grandfather took ill. It was a shocker because no one in the family ever thought that he would ever get sick. See my grandfather was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and he had to travel to New York form the Virgin Islands to get treatment. My grandfather ended up losing his battle with Cancer in November 2004. It was the hardest day of my life. After the funeral I felt like I had to do find something to motivate me because the one person that was my motivation was no longer here to give me the pep talks or wipe my tears when I had a bad day. So after constant battles with my career I finally made the decision to get over my fear and make a drastic career challenge that I never