Spc. Teresa L. Morris, of the Indiana National Guard, first
came into the active Army in November 1973. After a break in service, she
joined the Guard in 1992 and is currently deployed in Iraq. Photo by Spc. Leah
R. Burton
(Click photo for screen-resolution image); high-resolution image
available. |
She has firsthand knowledge of the growth the Army has undergone in the past 30
years, as she answered the call of duty and enlisted in the Women's Army
Auxiliary Corps on Nov. 30, 1973. Back then, women were not allowed in the U.S.
Army. WAC and the Army were two separate entities, and the woman's role was
purely in a support capacity.
Morris attended six weeks of basic training at Fort McClellan, Ala., then the
Army's women's training base. Then, she went through eight weeks of advanced
individual training at Fort Jackson, S.C., to be a clerk-typist.
"Back then the women trained separate from the men. The only men you might see
on post were maybe a cook or a [military police officer], because even your
command was all female," Morris said. "We had our own esprit d'corps."
Morris' AIT class was one of the first classes to train on the new electric
typewriter.
"We didn't even have computers. We had just switched over from manual
typewriters to electric typewriters, and we were very excited," Morris said.
During her first assignment at Headquarters Brigade Combat Team Committee
Group, Fort Dix, N.J., the Army absorbed the WAC and for the first time men and
women trained at the same installations.
"The transition was smooth, except that now we worked with men," Morris said.
In December 1977, the Army opened 14 new career management fields to women.
Women could now be crewmembers for long-range missile and rocket sites, smoke
and flame specialists, field artillery surveyors and others. In addition, women
could be assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, a previously all-male unit.
In 1974, Morris got married. She was on orders to move to Germany when she
found out she was expecting their first child. When Morris gave birth to her
first son in 1975, she got out of the Army.
She spent her time earning her associate's degree and raising her children.
In 1992, Morris joined the Indiana National Guard. Because of her previous
service, she didn't have to attend basic or advanced training again.
"I was 36 when I came back in. I felt like since it was for the state, it was
pretty safe. My kids were still in school, and it was a way to get my
[bachelor's degree in religious studies]," Morris said.
Since enlisting in the National Guard, Morris has been assigned to Company A,
38th Infantry Division, Headquarters State Area Command-Indiana and
Headquarters, 138th Personnel Services Battalion, where she was for only 30
days prior to deployment.
She calls her deployment in Iraq "exciting."
"It was a once in a lifetime experience," Morris said about deploying here. "I
felt compelled."
In her spare time, Morris enjoys going to Bible study and her gospel women's
group and working out at the gym.
(Army Pfc. Burton is a member of the 28th Public Affairs Detachment from Fort
Lewis, Wash. She is currently deployed to Iraq in support of the 13th Corps
Support Command at Logistics Support Area Anaconda.)
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