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My military experience has shaped me, but it does not define me. Starlyn Lara U.S. Army 1995-2007

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When I was twelve years old, a teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.
“A writer, a photographer, maybe a teacher,” I said.
“Those are good goals.”
“First though I want to join the Army, and give back to the country a few years before I go to college. Every citizen should give something back to the Nation.”
I remember there was silence. The year was 1971, she didn’t know what to say to that.

My family was not particularly patriotic, my father a draftee who served before I was born. I knew we had ties back to the founding of the nation; my mother and grandmother were Daughters of the American Revolution. I played with my grandfather’s World War I Army gear as a child, but the military was not a visible influence. The greater influence was perhaps my mother, a fourth grade school teacher who made learning about other countries and cultures an adventure. She encouraged me to explore and read far beyond my grade level. In the process, I came to understand at an early age that this nation, the United States, was very different from any other nation. This country was unique and the American values that I grew up with – liberty, freedom, justice, and compassion for all – were values that not every nation shared. The foundation of this nation was not its leaders, but its citizens I came to understand.

In 1977, I was graduating high school and wanted to join the military. Not having perfect vision, the Air Force was ruled out since I could not become a pilot. An old Chief at the Naval Recruiting Station was quite clear when I asked about what the Navy had available “We ain’t got no jobs for women.” The Marine Recruiter shared the office with the Navy and I already hadn’t gotten past the doorway. The Coast Guard was the unknown force; I didn’t even know it existed. That left the Army, star of countless childhood outdoor games and backdrop for some of my favorite films growing up. I told my mother I wanted to join the Army and she told me, “No, you’re going to go to college.”

Two weeks after graduation, I started summer term at the University of Florida. I was a mediocre student at best, smart, yet unchallenged. Perhaps I was unprepared for the demands of higher education, not intellectually, yet certainly in terms of self-discipline. Two years later, barely passing, I discovered the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps. (1979 was only the 6th year since women were authorized entry in ROTC.) I found my place, and excelled. The by-product was some improvement in my academic grades as well. Army ROTC gave me motivation and purpose to continue my studies. I might never have eventually graduated without that incentive.

In 1980, a new program was introduced that enabled senior ROTC cadets to join an Army Reserve Unit, the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP). I was one of the very first cadets that took advantage of this unique opportunity. The program was so new, that a year later when I faced a break in school for financial reasons and thus was honorably discharged from ROTC, I had to remain in the Army Reserves as at that time, there were no policies to cover the situation for when a cadet was discharged from ROTC. Thus, I became an enlisted soldier in the Army Reserves. Eventually, I returned to school, and to ROTC, graduating in 1984 from the University of Central Florida and receiving a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves, incidentally, now a proud new Mustang, a prior enlisted soldier.

I have not always enjoyed my time in the Army. My civilian career progression, personal life, and degraded civilian retirement financial stability have suffered. While I have a daughter I love dearly, my career cost me my reproductive years, postponed too long. Regardless, I have gained a great deal, and learned a tremendous amount both about myself, others, and the diversity of others and other cultures. I would not want to repeat some aspects of the experience but I also would not trade away the experience either.

In some ways, I am perhaps an unlikely warrior. My mother was a Quaker (she didn’t want me to join the Army, in part, because she felt I would have issues with authority and she was while fierce in protecting her children, a peaceful woman.) I am decidedly a non-violent individual, though not a pacifist. I view my duties as a military police, information operations, and civil affairs soldier as the work of a peacemaker within the context of the Profession of Arms. Perhaps that is not an entirely inappropriate self-identity. For are not the warriors, more than any other in a society, the ones that understand foremost the cost of war and the price of peace?

Very respectfully,

Victoria Anne Hudson
Lieutenant Colonel
Army of the United States
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Hi Star, Was just wondering if the video montage is or will be available for viewing by those of us who submitted, but couldn’t attend the SHOUT event. I would love to see it and share it with my friends and family. Thanks.