Photo By Ronald A. Reeves | Heather Reitter, from Fishkill, N.Y., takes her oath of enlistment at Albany Military...... read more read more
ALBANY, N.Y. - The first female combat engineer occupational specialty was reserved by U.S. Army Albany Recruiting Battalion and Heather Reitter, says despite her college rugby team nickname Barbie: “I didn’t hit like Barbie.”
Formerly a State University of New York-Potsdam student and avid cross-fit athlete, Reitter took her oath of enlistment Tuesday, June 23. According to the Recruitment Operations Center at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Reitter was the first female in America to reserve the combat engineer job specialty. Yet, other females have already taken their oaths of enlistment.
Some women were able to switch jobs while at their military entrance processing centers and Fort Knox officials state that Reitter is one of the first dozen females sworn into the U.S. Army under the newly-opened combat engineer specialty. She is slated to ship for Basic Combat Training in September at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where she will also attend her combat engineer training.
On June 18, the day Reitter reserved her combat engineer job specialty, Army Times issued a release stating: “The Army has taken a major step toward eliminating combat exclusion policies for women by opening some 20,000 combat engineer and associated skill positions to female enlisted soldiers of the active and reserve components.”
Reitter was at the Poughkeepsie-Peekskill Recruiting Center to finish building her packet for enlistment when Sgt. 1st Class James Blount, her recruiter, found out that the Army had opened the combat engineer specialty to females.
Blount says that Reitter is a “very creditable young person with an outgoing personality — determined and motivated. She’s one of the most impressive recruits I’ve seen in a while with great scores on her entrance exam.”
“I was looking at military police or military intelligence for my job because I really want to go to Airborne School. When I saw the Army Video for the combat engineers, that was it,” Reitter said. “I knew that was for me because combat engineers blow stuff up. And I will have the chance to go to Airborne School.”
The combat engineer MOS (12B) has, as its entire mission, a combat focus. Army Combat Engineers possess expertise in explosives and generally are compared to light infantrymen.
A 2012 graduate from John Jay High School in East Fishkill, New York, Reitter claims to be a huge history buff and has a keen interest in international politics, taking political science classes at SUNY-Potsdam.
She was an avid dancer, beginning dance lessons at an early age and continuing until she tried out for the SUNY-Potsdam rugby team. She says that the demanding workouts in cross fit, while a member of Cross Fit 485 near her Fishkill home, prepared her for college rugby and for the future physical demands of The U.S. Army.
Her Dad, Joe, a Westchester County Police Officer, served four years in Marines, and said he never pushed her to join any branch of the service and supported her decision to join the Army. “She is motivated and eager to attend jump school. About four weeks ago, Heather decided to look into joining the Army, so I was glad to go with her.”
“Members of the Poughkeepsie-Peekskill, New York recruiting center under Bear Mountain Recruiting Company, and everyone here at Albany Recruiting Battalion are honored to have one of the first dozen females to take the oath of office for the newly-opened combat engineer MOS,” said Maj. Andrew Douglass, executive officer, Albany Recruiting Battalion.
| Date Taken: | 06.24.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.24.2015 14:26 |
| Story ID: | 167955 |
| Location: | ALBANY, NY, US |
| Hometown: | FISHKILL, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 4,334 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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