“I was Varsity cheerleading captain at my high school and had an opportunity at a full ride scholarship, but I turned it down for the military. I enlisted in the military because people told me I couldn’t, and I was bound and determined to prove them wrong.

The female veteran community is much smaller than it is for men. So many civilians don’t really realize that we deploy alongside our male counterparts and are always astonished when I tell them about my service. We are just as much a part of the fight!

After separating I started going back to school again. I got married and moved around the country (even to Hawaii) with my husband. We had two beautiful boys. While we were in Hawaii, I became obsessed with scuba diving and used the GI Bill to become an instructor. I love being in the water and scuba diving really helped me heal. Everything seems to fade away when you are under water. Now I work for Crown Defense, where we help warfighters work on armoring vehicles to help keep our troops safe.”