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CAMP H.M. SMITH, Hawaii – With an area of responsibility that consists of 36 nations, 3,000 spoken languages and varying cultures, U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Tera Vandenheuvel works toward the betterment of women as the U.S. Pacific Command (USPACOM) Women, Peace and Security Program (WPS) director.
As the WPS director, Vandenheuvel, interacts with U.S. partner and allied nation’s female military members and speaks to foreign leadership about the benefits of utilizing the capabilities of women.
Behind her unassuming exterior is a soldier that truly embodies the Army values and is a warrior for women’s rights. Vandenheuvel attributes her experiences earlier in her military career for her success today.
Vandenheuvel was a 19-year-old private when she enlisted in the military and within a few weeks of arriving to her first duty station in Kaiserslautern, Germany, she was on her way to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom I.
“The experiences that I learned in that environment at 20 years old definitely shaped me as a soldier, made me more mature, and made me really understand and grateful for why I decided to put the uniform on in the first place,” Vandenheuvel said.
After her quick transition from boot camp to a deployed environment, more accolades soon followed including becoming the first Kentucky Army National Guardsman to graduate Drill Sergeant School.
Vandenheuvel said that just being able to get through the eight week course and having the confidence in herself to become a drill sergeant leading troops was a major benefit from that experience.
From these experiences, Vandenheuvel is able to lead in a very different way through the United Nations initiative as part of the WPS.
“As a female this program obviously means a lot to me,” Vandenheuvel said. “It means a lot that we are able to go out into our partner nations and role model and show how the United States treats their female service members.”
The goal of the WPS is to empower half the world’s population as equal partners by preventing conflict and building peace in countries threatened by violence and war.
“Academic research has shown the correlation between how women are treated and then the security of a nation or a state.” Vandenheuvel said. “The better women are treated the more secure a nation is.”
While at the 2014 Global Peace Operations Initiative in Indonesia she had a very exciting experience during a tug-of-war at the capstone event.
“There was the platoon from Tanzania and also the platoon from Indonesia and there was a mixed GPOI side of the tug-of-war,” Vandenheuvel said. “However I was the only female involved in any of the games of tug-of-war. The reaction of me participating in the game was actually pretty surprising. I found that many of the Indonesians that were viewing were cheering for our team specifically because of the fact that I was pulling on that side of the rope.”
Vandenheuvel is just one face in U.S. Pacific Command that does her part to ensure the Indo-Asia-Pacific mission continues to thrive by effectively executing her day-to-day mission. Soon she will be on to her next adventure at the Pentagon as the protocol NCO in charge for the Chief, National Guard Bureau General Frank J. Grass.
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.21.2016 20:59 |
| Story ID: | 193104 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 162 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Army NCO spreads awareness on Women, Peace and Security, by SSG Bradley Parrish, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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