Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Jon Cupp | Brooklyn, N.Y., native Spc. Deborah Walters, a financial management technician for...... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- While she was in high school, Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Spc. Deborah Walters, a financial management technician with Detachment B, 82nd Financial Management Support Unit, experienced something that altered the way she felt about her way of life and serving others.
It was Sept. 11, 2001 and as she watched the chaos of that day unfold and her fellow New Yorkers uniting, Walters said she realized at that moment she had a great respect for the military and how they serve the nation.
“At first, people [in New York] seemed to be running around like chickens with their head cut off, but eventually, they all started to come together,” said the 26-year-old who has served nearly three years in the Army. “Everyone started to ask where do we go from here and that’s when I began to think about the military and how they were going to have to fight to keep the country safe. They’re not only fighting for themselves but for other people to keep the country safe, and when the country’s safe, your family is safe — I really had to look at the big picture.”
Although eventually moving on to pursuing a financial degree in college after high school, Walters always kept the military in the back of her mind and continually thought about the selfless sacrifice that soldiers were making.
Eventually with 30 college semester hours in accounting under her belt, Walters felt ready to take on a career in the Army to help her with her dreams of a future career in finance.
“When I decided to join the military my best friend was joining and I said ‘you’re not leaving without me,”’ said Walters. “I told the recruiter that he didn’t have to tell me anything as long as he offered me finance.”
“That’s what I was doing in school and that’s what I wanted to go into,” she added. “The recruiter joked with me at first telling me that he didn’t get me a job in finance and later he surprised me saying, ‘I got finance for you.’ It was on after that and it was one of my proudest moments, getting a job in finance.”
What Walters found in the Army, she said, was that finance embodies many aspects of the selfless nature of Army service, whether she’s helping to set up an allotment, doing debt assistance, starting entitlements or fixing a major financial issue.
“My favorite thing about finance is to be able to help people with pay issues,” said Walters, who was recently selected as the Army’s Finance Soldier of the Year and won the 82nd Special Troops Battalion Soldier of the Quarter. “You can’t be mission ready unless your finances are in good shape and sometimes people feel like their lives are over when their finances aren’t together.”
“It’s a great feeling to help people who may have bad financial issues and when you fix it, it puts a smile on their face,” she added.
When she isn’t at work, the specialist spends much of her time volunteering to help the homeless through many different charitable organizations to include Habitat for Humanity and Sophia’s Haven of Hope.
“Doing things to benefit others is something I love to do and Sophia’s provides housing for homeless people and it’s a really great organization,” said Walters. “There’s an inspirational story behind the woman who started the organization because her sister died of cancer and so the woman dedicated her charity to her sister’s memory. She wanted a way for her sister to live on.”
“When I die I want to live on too by continuing to benefit the world,” added Walters. “I want to be cremated with my ashes placed at the root of a tree so I can continue giving life to that tree.”
Walters said she has had many great leaders in the Army who have inspired her.
“I’ve always been blessed with really great leaders and mentors and I’ve always felt like I’ve had someone there to guide me and carry me,” she said. “It’s really motivated me to want to give back when I become an NCO one day. When your leaders take care of you, soldiers know that they have someone they can go to that they can rely upon who won’t disappoint them.”
Walters’ future dreams include finishing a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Fayetteville State University, becoming a drill sergeant and eventually a sergeant major.
“I told my battle buddies that I want to be sergeant major of the Army some day, but I know I can make it happen, because I just have that drive,” Walters said with a smile.
As for Walters’ current career in the Army, she said she’s been living by a simple philosophy of someone who feels fulfilled by her career.
“It’s like the old saying, if you love what you’re doing, you don’t have to work a day in your life, and I definitely love what I’m doing,” she said.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 09.08.2013 15:10 |
| Story ID: | 113281 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | BROOKLYN, NY, US |
| Hometown: | FAYETTEVILLE, NC, US |
| Hometown: | FORT LIBERTY, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 78 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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