"Give up" - a word she never uses

FORT MEADE, MD, UNITED STATES

01.31.2023

Story by Staff Sgt. Sarah Brice 

Defense Information School

She is an unstoppable force of nature.
“I'm Superwoman. I can do anything. I can do all things and through Christ who strengthens me,” laughed retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Darlise Henderson.
Henderson has experienced resistance and setbacks in life, but they never stopped her from fighting for her dreams.
One of her first major setbacks happened when she first enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1988.
“I wanted to come in the field of broadcasting, and they told me it wasn't available so the recruiter lied. So there I am. In the military. And they stuck me in supply.”
Even though her dream job was denied, Henderson pulled herself up and made the most of her career, eagerly pursuing a difficult promotion at her first duty station.
“While I was at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, one of the requirements within our unit was if you wanted to get promoted, you had to go to Air Assault School,” said Henderson. “I was a Private – I was an E-2 and I wanted my E-3. I had to go to Air Assault School, so I went and graduated from the course. I repelled out an aircraft, and I'm air assault qualified. I have my air assault wings in my car as we speak. Yeah. So I take pride in that.”
Henderson served four years of active duty and became a civilian, moving to Japan with her husband and raising two kids. But something still bothered her.
“I would always watch AFN and I would sit there and say, ‘I could do that. I could do that,’” said Henderson.
With a burning desire to become a broadcast journalist, she enlisted in the Army again.
She became a medic.
Soon after her career assignment, Henderson discovered something that had the potential to devastate her sunny outlook.
“My dad had congestive heart failure and I can remember he needed oxygen, but as a non-medic, I didn't know what his issue was. But later on, I realized, ‘Daddy needed oxygen.’ I was like, ‘He needed some oxygen because he couldn't breathe,’” said Henderson. “It was a challenge, you know, because I'm in school and I'm learning this and I'm like, ‘I could probably have saved my dad's life’, you know, but I didn't know.”
Henderson said that she doesn't focus on things that are out of her control, and that she tries to find the silver lining in everything.
While she wasn’t in her career of choice, Henderson focused on getting a master's degree in Public Relations, showing that she knew what she was doing and wouldn’t let something like a different career field bring her down.
“I'm always gonna win,” said Henderson. “I'm gonna come out on top.”
Others tried to make her fail.
As an African-American woman who re-enlisted after a 10+ year gap in service, she experienced age, gender, education and race discrimination.
“As a black woman and as a female, it's really hard because you encounter a lot,” said Henderson.
She has even encountered resentment in a military leadership course. Her instructor noticed this and gave her some advice.
“He's like, ‘There's nothing you can't do.’ There’s three females in the class and the rest was all men. ‘These men are jealous. You’re focused. You’re grounded. You got it together.’ He said ‘Don’t let the men intimidate you.’” said Henderson.
She was not intimidated.
Henderson kept reaching for bigger and more challenging roles, cross-training into a second job, dual wielding a medical and an administrator military occupation specialty (MOS).
She retired after 20 years of service and was finally able to apply for her dream job again as a civilian. Henderson signed up to become a DINFOS instructor.
She didn’t get the job.
Instead, Henderson was hired to be the lead education and training technician. She sits in an isolated corner of the Registrar's Office, rarely getting the chance to interact with students outside of administrative disciplinary actions.
“I didn't get the instructor job. I didn't get certain jobs, but the big picture was God knew
what he had in store for me,” said Henderson.
She kept encountering setbacks, so Henderson took matters into her own hands, creating a youth leadership program called Developing Young Heroes that focuses on public speaking and character development. She contacted local companies and convinced them to donate to her program so the kids could have free meals, supplies, and prizes during the day-long workshop. Henderson saw real changes in the children’s confidence and ability to handle difficult situations.
“I know that I'm a leader and I feel like, you know, I wanted to pass on my experience, my background, my knowledge; pass on my strengths to others,” said Henderson.
The program was going well until COVID-19 stopped her from holding in-person courses. Suddenly, Henderson had more time on her hands.
Henderson also took her newfound extra time to find a job that would bring her more satisfaction. She found one that gives her a significant pay raise and allows her to telework full-time. Her new job starts next month.
She also used her time to write a book to share her leadership knowledge to the world.
“The goal is to get the book published and do some type of book tour,” said Henderson. “And I'm gonna hit up military installations, [Post Exchange], you know, and see if I can do like a book signing.”
“I take pride in saying there's nothing that I can't do,” said Henderson.

• Date Taken: 01.31.2023
• Date Posted: 02.13.2023 15:12
• Story ID: 437514
• Location: FORT MEADE, MD, US