Sandy always wanted to be a nurse from the time she was little. Sandy graduated high school early and got her CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) certificate and then registered at a school to earn her LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse program). Sandy wanted to care for the elderly, and she began working in a nursing home.
After graduation, prior to starting school in the fall, Sandy thought, “I should do something different in the summer. I saw an ad for a female construction worker. I thought, that would be fun, I can hold stop signs, get a tan, and then I found out it was with the Corp of Engineers looking for help. Back then you never saw ads for the Army. I said to the recruiter, ‘Sure, you can come out and talk to me.’ When the recruiter arrived at our home, I was still at the nursing home. My mom, Muriel, greeted him. When I arrived home, my mom was just getting off a motorcycle with the recruiter. She had taken a ride with the recruiter! That was my mom. Always out for an adventure! My mom did not want me to go into the military. She thought all the women in the military were burly and rough and I was a girly-girl. I was the youngest daughter. Dad always said, out of all the girls, I was the last he expected to join the military.”
My idea of a summer job in construction, working on my tan, turned into four years in the Army!
For more of Sandy’s story, click on the pdf below: