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    First female with the infantry military occupation specialty, 11B [Image 2 of 3]

    First female with the infantry military occupation specialty, 11B

    Staff Sgt. Allison S. Balsam, Official Maryland Army National Guard Recruiting, is the first female in the Maryland National Guard with the infantry military occupation specialty, 11B.

    “It was a lot of fun,” said Balsam. “In the field doing things like land navigation, shooting on the weapons systems, and completing the training exercises. Those things were a lot of fun, despite the cold.”

    Currently Balsam is serving as a drill sergeant at the recruit sustainment program. She was looking from a change from her original MOS, a 35F, a intelligence analyst, and saw the vacancy for the drill sergeant position at RSP. She will continue to serve as at least until December 2018.

    Her husband’s experience in the 1-175th Infantry Regiment influenced her decision to go to the infantry reclass course.

    “I got to hear all the cool and awesome stuff that the infantry was doing,” Balsam said. “He would always come back and talk about how much fun that they had.”

    She went through a two week course at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. She was one of three females that graduated along with their male counterparts.

    “Graduating this school is just the beginning, the hard work is in front of me,” said Balsam.

    (U.S. Army National Guard Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Thaddeus Harrington)

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    IMAGE INFO

    Date Taken: 03.17.2018
    Date Posted: 04.03.2018 09:31
    Photo ID: 4263595
    VIRIN: 180317-Z-CY398-012
    Resolution: 2700x1802
    Size: 1.78 MB
    Location: MD, US

    Web Views: 328
    Downloads: 8

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