Photo By Staff Sgt. Jon Soles | Informal portrait of U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lorraine Naranjo, logistics noncommissioned...... read more read more
FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Many soldiers may take for granted the opportunities available to them in the nation they have sworn to defend.
Staff Sgt. Lorraine Naranjo traveled thousands of miles to be in America and is now proud to wear the U.S. Army uniform.
Naranjo, a logistics noncommissioned officer assigned to the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 824th Quartermaster Company, 362nd Quartermaster Battalion, had to leave her native Ireland to fulfill her dream of becoming a soldier.
Now she is a noncommissioned officer responsible for making sure enlisted soldiers in her charge meet Army standards of training and fitness.
When Naranjo was a self-described “young lass” living in the Irish town of Limerick, she saw a comedy film about a woman joining the American Army and decided she wanted to be a soldier, but the Irish Army didn’t take females. Disappointed, but undaunted, Naranjo did not give up.
“When I saw the movie 'Private Benjamin,' I decided I wanted to be a soldier and I went to a recruiter in Ireland and they told me women are not allowed to serve,” Naranjo said. “So I came here and fulfilled my dreams.”
Naranjo came to America 16 years ago. She was here about five years before she joined the active duty Army. The 42-year-old served six years and then moved over to the Army Reserve, where she has served for the past five years.
Naranjo’s civilian job is a supply technician for the Equipment Concentration Site on Fort Bragg. She said she enjoys her job in the Army, because of her military occupation specialty and the responsibility of taking care of soldiers.
“I love my job. I couldn’t have asked for a better position,” Naranjo said.
As part of an annual training mission to the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution Susquehanna in New Cumberland, Pa., from June 16-29, Naranjo toured the Gettysburg National Military Park, where the bloodiest battle on American soil was fought over three days in July 1863 during the Civil War. Naranjo was unaware of the famous “Irish Brigade” of the New York National Guard, a brigade made up of regiments of Irish immigrants and Irish-American soldiers who fought to preserve the union of their adopted country, just a few miles away from here.
“It was actually spectacular to learn that so many Irish fought and died here for America,” Naranjo said.
Though she no longer calls Ireland home, her family still visits her in North Carolina, which she said she prefers over the other states where she has lived.
Naranjo said the climate in North Carolina, with long, hot, humid summers is something she has not acclimated to in 16 years here.
By contrast, she said “blink and you’ll miss” summer in the cooler, rainy climate of Ireland.
Naranjo still keeps her Irish heritage close, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and occasionally cooking her favorite Irish food – boiled bacon potatoes with cabbage. She can’t hide her Irish accent, and it still brings her a lot of attention.
She said she is used to it by now, and uses it to bring lighthearted moments to hard-working soldiers.
“Just in two weeks with my soldiers, they have already been commenting about my accent, the way I don’t pronounce the ‘th’ sound, but at least it makes them laugh so it’s good for morale,” Naranjo said.
Naranjo is confident in her decision to come to America and to serve in the Army. She came to America with a sixth-grade education and now has a college degree, thanks in large part to the opportunities of America and her service in the Army.
“Bottom line is, I am happy where I am,” Naranjo said. “Had I stayed where I was, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now.”
Naranjo knows there is no such thing as the “luck of the Irish,” just hard work and determination that have carried her far in uniform and in the country she now calls home.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2013 21:01 |
| Story ID: | 109319 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NC, US |
| Hometown: | LIMERICK, IE |
| Web Views: | 623 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Quartermaster soldier carries on Fightin’ Irish tradition, by SSG Jon Soles, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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