Photo By Helen Klein | Data as of January, 2015. Data source: Active duty personnel file, military academies....... read more read more
JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - The total number of active duty female officers in the U.S. Army sits just below 16,000, according to data from the January 2015 Active Duty Master Personnel File.
Given that this number makes up only 16 percent of officer positions within the Army, the chance of becoming a commander in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) while at the same time being a woman is low.
Regardless, at least one Solider within The Old Guard has defied those odds to earn a leadership position among one of the regiment’s specialty platoons: The U.S. Army Drill Team.
Making military history when she took the position last November, 1st Lt. Lauran Glover, 26, is the first female commander to lead the platoon, which is based at the Fort Myer portion of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
Ask how she obtained the position and the Columbus, Ohio, native will tell you, “I was just doing my job.”
Glover’s leadership experience began at Guantanamo Bay, where the work environment was much different than the often-eccentric position she holds today, where she and her team are constantly in the public eye.
“You’re in the camps, or doing external security and not a whole lot of people know about your mission, or what you are even doing there,” she said in a March 6 interview with the Pentagram. “It was incredible to see Soldiers straight out of high school understand the very important mission that they have [in Guantanamo]. They understand if we don’t do our job correctly in Guantanamo it can affect our brothers and sisters deployed in Afghanistan or wherever else.”
When transferring to the joint base, Glover was concerned that taking lead of a male-centric platoon would be a challenge, but according to her the transition into the current leadership role she holds was “seamless.”
“Immediately when I got to the platoon, the guys were great. Very accepting, very professional, and they gave me the respect you expect from Soldier-to-Soldier,” she said. “They were very protective as well.”
As a platoon leader in the 289th Military Police Detachment for law enforcement duty, Glover led drill teams of a dozen Soldiers in the 2014 Spirit of America and Twilight Tattoo series. The platoon’s performances spanned the National Capital Region as well as across select locations in the United States.
At the end of last year’s performance season, Glover resumed her duties leading MPs. She said she knew it was time to move on from being a platoon leader and asked her commander if it would be possible to become a part of the drill team.
“I spoke with some other people to see if I could be the right fit, because normally drill commanders are infantry, male captains — and I am not any of those things,” she said. “But I think they saw potential through my work ethic and seizing every opportunity and excelling at it, while still doing my main job.”
Glover said that the team she leads now consists of 20 Soldiers—an accomplishment she is proud of.
Building resiliency
Glover joined the Army to be around Soldiers, learn about them and share common experiences to assist her in moving toward her long-range goal of a career in mental health studies.
Building resiliency among her Army peers and younger generations inspires Glover daily, she said. On a recent trip to visit her 7-year-old stepdaughter in Kansas, Glover said she spoke to elementary school students about her personal experiences — the good, bad and the ugly.
In a story falling under the bad category, Glover referred to a speed bump encountered on her path to success — being denied entry into a military graduate school.
“People would say ‘you’re a shoe-in because you made military history,’” she said. “But I didn’t get in. Obviously, I was a little distraught and didn’t know if I was going in the right path. But what I did know is that I wanted to be a mental health professional for a reason.”
As a platoon leader, Glover is not only responsible for coordinating events and leading Soldiers during practices and performances. She also mentors and takes pride in helping Soldiers alleviate personal issues at home. Her goal is to become a counsel psychologist working within the military population.
Glover told the students before she left that despite the obstacle, she remains resilient and that she is going to keep pursuing her goals.
An article the class wrote about her visit hangs in Glover’s office as a reminder that there are people looking up to her and that she has to continue on even in the face of failure.
Still, it was never in her plan to hold the current position as commander, she said. However, she did know that working hard and leaving an impact — some kind of legacy — was always in the plan.
Family support
Growing up in a military household, Glover said her mother’s job in the Ohio Air Force National Guard as a recruiter made her proud.
Watching her mom succeed in a predominately-male occupation inspires her to this day.
“My mother served for 28 years before she retired,” said Glover. “She wanted me and my brother to ‘find our own way’ and didn’t put too much focus on us growing up and joining the military - even though we both did.”
Another inspiration for Glover is her husband, 1st Lt. Albert Glover, a reserve MP, who is currently serving in Guantanamo.
The two were married mid-tour during her deployment to Cuba, and Glover said they try hard to be each other’s “driving force.”
“He has always been supportive,” she said. “When I was seeking this position, he pushed me for it. He said ‘don’t hold yourself back just because you’re different than all the people who came before you.’”
So far, she hasn't. And she's succeeded.
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2015 17:49 |
| Story ID: | 157557 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VIRGINIA, US |
| Hometown: | COLUMBUS, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 633 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, First female Army Drill Team commander earns position by 'doing her job', by Damien Salas, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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