Photo By Maria Christina Yager | Army Reserve nurse anesthetist, Col. Sheila McCarley was promoted to Colonel during an...... read more read more
Army Reservist, Col. Sheila McCarley, a nurse anesthetist currently on military orders to Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, joined the Army Reserve in 1989. She joined the Reserves just after earning her Associate Degree from St. Joseph School of Nursing in Memphis and had student loans to repay. She knew there were opportunities in the Army Reserve, so she joined and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant.
“I joined the Army because I felt distraught when I got out of nursing school and had a student loan debt of $18,000. So I was on a mission to seek help with this loan debt. I joined the Army Reserve with the promise that I would receive a $20,000 loan repayment and assistance to go back to school and get my BSN. Well, it was a no brainer,” said McCarley.
After she joined the Reserves and began drilling with her unit, McCarley worked as a perioperative nurse. She learned about different career paths in nursing and developed an interest in the field of Anesthesia. But, before she could apply for a nurse anesthetist program McCarley had to complete her BSN. She was able to take advantage of an Army education program called Specialized Training Assistance Program, or STRAP, that would help her pay for school. She went back to college and in 1993 she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Tennessee in Memphis. McCarley continued to drill in the Army Reserve during this time and was unceremoniously promoted to 1st Lieutenant. “My admin department just handed me a paper to sign,” said McCarley, not knowing any better. “With my degree complete, my focus was on getting into an anesthesia program.”
She was accepted into Middle Tennessee School of Anesthesia and with education assistance from the Army Reserve graduated in 1996. She became a nurse anesthetist in both her day job her Army Reserve career field. She also earned another promotion and changed her collar devices to captain’s bars without any pomp and circumstance.
Over the next few years, McCarley continued her work in medicine as a civilian and a Soldier. In 2003, McCarley’s skills were needed by the Army in Afghanistan. She served in a field hospital at Bagram Air Base as a nurse anesthetist. “I was proud to care for the patients there and put my training to good use,” said McCarley. Upon her return, McCarley was informed that she was promoted to major. She made sure her uniform was ready before her next drill weekend.
Her 27-year Army career, which includes assignments to Trippler Army Medical Center, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Afghanistan, has taken her halfway around the world and back, but somehow, despite three college graduation ceremonies and four military service school ceremonies McCarley had never attended a promotion ceremony until last year when she saw fellow Soldiers on BACH’s post-anesthesia care unit get promoted.
McCarley is an Individual Mobilization Augmentee and doesn’t drill with a regular Reserve unit. Instead the Army is able to send her to complete her hours where her skills are needed most at the time. “Last year when I was serving here at BACH I saw a fellow officer get promoted,” she said. It wasn’t fancy but it left an impression on McCarley, who was nearing the end of her military career. “I thought that was really nice and I’d never done that before.”
At that time, McCarley figured she had gone as far as she could go in the Army and her chances for promotion were in the past. She had been in the Army for 26 years and was nearing the mandatory retirement date for her paygrade. Still, she was enjoying her service and did not feel like she was ready to retire. “Getting promoted to colonel was something I never dreamed of. For the longest time lieutenant colonel was as high as you could go as an anesthetist as an IMA so I never thought that I would get promoted to colonel, but I still felt I had service in me,” explained McCarley. While serving on mobilization orders to Landstuhl RMC last year, she asked the Army for an extension to her contract. Apparently, the Army wasn’t finished with her yet either, she was granted a three year extension to her contract and as it turned out, a promotion opportunity opened up in her career field, according to McCarley.
McCarley’s record was reviewed by the promotion board and she was selected for Colonel.
“It’s just surreal. It wasn’t in sight for me in 1989, but things just kept happening,” said McCarley. Her promotion was effective Aug. 3. It was just a regular day where McCarley was working in her civilian capacity at a hospital in Memphis. Like the promotions before, this fell on a day where McCarley wasn’t working for the Army. She had annual training at BACH later in the month though so McCarley decided to do something she had never done before.
With assistance from personnel at BACH, early in the morning before the day’s surgery schedule began McCarley was promoted to Colonel during a promotion ceremony Aug. 31. Surrounded by family, friends, and her fellow Soldiers, McCarley stood at attention, flags behinds her, while her orders were read. Then her brother and close personal friend ceremoniously replaced the shoulder boards on her Class A uniform to those of a full bird colonel. A moment McCarley never imagined when she joined the Army.
“I look back on it and there were some ups and some downs but it was all worth it,” said McCarley. With advice from her mother and assistance from the Army Reserve, McCarley said she has far exceeded any expectations she ever had for herself when she began her journey.
To learn more about education assistance programs and career opportunities in Army Medicine visit https://www.goarmy.com/amedd.html
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 09.07.2017 16:10 |
| Story ID: | 247349 |
| Location: | MEMPHIS, TN, US |
| Hometown: | COLLIERVILLE, TN, US |
| Hometown: | MEMPHIS, TN, US |
| Web Views: | 560 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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