Category Archives: Role Models

Honored Role Series (part 11): Lt. Col. Jen G. Buckner- In the Long Run

This is the 11th installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. One of the few constants in the Army is the importance of physical fitness: strength, power, and stamina. William Nash, a military historian, wrote “success and general efficiency of every military establishment is, in a very large degree, dependent upon the physical fitness, endurance,…

Honored Role Series (part 10): Sue Fulton – Hallowed Words

This is the tenth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. At age eight, Brenda Sue Fulton entered her first American Legion essay contest defining patriotism as the love of country and willingness to stand up for the freedom of other citizens. She won the contest that year and for the next five.

Honored Role Series (Part 9): Beth Carpenter – Bridge to Bridge

This is the ninth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Beth Carpenter was never a “typical girl”. As a child growing up in Massachusetts, she loved making paper airplanes and building structures from kitchen utensils. She also questioned her parents and teachers about the physics of bridges, the earth’s orbit around the sun, and…

Honored Role Series (Part 8): Col. Terry Walters, MD – Navigating Uncharted Waters

This is the eight installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Before turning 10, Terry Tepper took the helm of the family’s 40-foot wooden yacht and steered into Barbados harbor, “My father handed me the tiller and said, ‘take her in’. He folded his arms, sat down on the bow and smiled. I backed the…

Honored Role Series (Part 7): 1st. Lt. Aubrey McCary – Shades of Gray

This is the seventh installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Her packing list includes body armor, a Kevlar helmet, a M-16 rifle, 3 pairs of desert tan boots, and 4 sets of camouflage uniforms; wrapping up the list are a set of pink, plaid flannel pajamas, a “Pride & Prejudice” DVD, Hello Kitty office…

Honored Role Series (Part 6): Maj. Mindy Kimball – Shooting for Stars

This is the sixth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Pondering science, space, and astronomy inspires US Army Major Mindy Kimball, because she has long dreamed of becoming an astronaut. Many astronauts begin their space quests in the military, which is where Mindy hopes her quest is beginning as well. Mindy grew up in…

Honored Role Series (Part 5): Hae-Sue Park – Getting Out of the Comfort Zone

This is the fifth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. When Liet. Col. Hae-Sue Park retired from the Army two years ago, the most common questions she received from friends, “I can’t believe you retired. Do you have any regrets? What are you going to do?” Although she loved the challenges of her 20-year…

Honored Role Series (Part 4): Jen Boggs – US Soldier turned UN Peacekeeper

This is the fourth installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. “It is amazing how more alike we are than we are different,” said Jen Boggs, Coordination Officer in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping at the United Nations. “The vast majority of people from all backgrounds want the same things: to live in…

Honored Role Series (Part 3): Maj. Stephanie Ahern – Soldier, Scholar, and Mother

This is the third installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Before kindergarten Stephanie Ahern drafted her life plan; graduate high school, attend a good college, earn a masters degree and then a doctorate, like her father a metallurgical engineer, work for a year or two and than get married. That is as far as…

Honored Role Series (Part 2): Becky Kanis – Armed Service and Social Service

This is the second installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. As a junior high student in Franklin, Tennessee, Becky Kanis remembers the excitement and awe of fellow parishioners when they learned a young woman from St. Philip’s Catholic Church received an appointment to a service academy. Carol Anderson, a high school senior and St….