Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Neil W. McCabe | Army Reserve Medical Command's Lt. Col. Jason Barber administered the reenlistment...... read more read more
[FORT CARSON, Colo.] Army Reserve Medical Command Lt. Col. Jason Barber administered the reenlistment oath for an Army member of the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team and member of the Army World Class Athlete Program here while the two flew June 17 in an Army UH-60 Black Hawk.
“I’ve never been in a helicopter,” Sgt. Lisa Greer, a wheeled vehicle mechanic, or 91 Bravo, who competes in the 132-pound division. “I always wanted to see what it was like," Greer said her retention NCO was able to work it out for her. “I was pretty stoked.”
The boxer said the ride in the Black Hawk was more than she expected.
"It was cool until it got to the end, and I started feeling motion sickness," she said. "Afterwards—I don't know if that's normal—but I was really, really tired.”
The Thornwood High School graduate said she enlisted in 2018 to improve her quality of life and future. “I joined just to get out of the situation that I was in and to better myself.”
Greer is on the U.S. Olympic Team roster as an alternate, so she did not travel to Paris for the Summer Games.
The sergeant said she reenlisted because the Army is her career, and when she finally hangs up the gloves, she plans to become an Army nurse. "I'm currently in school for nursing, so we'll see how the commissioning side goes."
The South Holland, Illinois, native said she was thrilled Barber, who works as a WCAP physician assistant and strength coach here, administered the oath.
“I like working with Colonel Barber; he doesn't get the recognition that he deserves," the sergeant said. He helps me out so much with the physical aspect, preparing us with strength and conditioning regimens.
Barber is a valuable resource for her and the other Soldier-athletes because they can speak easily with him about matters outside their sport and training, she said.
The colonel, who is attached to AR-MEDCOM's operations section at the command's Pinellas Park, Florida, headquarters, said Greer continues to impress him.
“Over the last two years, we've trained, I've done all of her strength and conditioning and her medical support, and she is actually now the winner of the Olympic trials, but because of the way they do USA Boxing, she's the Olympic alternate," he said.
“Nothing makes me more proud to be an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve than when one of my athletes asks me to reenlist them,” Barber said.
“Sergeant Greer wanted to do a reenlistment in a helicopter, so after a 20-minute ride with members of her team, we went into a low hover of about 75 feet and performed the ceremony,” he said. “It was an awesome time and we keep one more person serving.”
Barber said boxing is not as integral to the Army as in the past when units would hold regular boxing tournaments, such as when he competed in one when he was with the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment, because of concerns over traumatic brain injuries.
“Back in the day, those were called ‘smokers,’ and they usually consisted of three one-minute rounds,” he said.
“I actually am old enough and have been in long enough to tell you that I've done one when I was stationed with the 11th ACR when they were still in Germany, which is circa 1992 or 93. I did not win that boxing match, but I did do it one time,” he said.
Greer said she transferred to WCAP in late 2022 and early 2023 after serving with the 299th Brigade Engineering Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division here when she discovered the Army had a boxing team.
“I had got in contact with the coach at the time with me getting in contact with the coach,” she said. “I didn't have any fights, so he had a local gym. I joined his gym, and I was able to compete at local shows on one of the local matches held by Golden Gloves of Colorado.”
After Greer won local matches, she was eligible to compete in the national Golden Gloves tournament, where she placed second, which in turn made her a WCAP candidate, she said.
The nursing student said she was a late bloomer to competitive boxing.
“Most kids or most adults start boxing at the age of nine,” she said.
“I started boxing around the age of 24,” she said. “I found boxing. I was working at a community center located where I'm from, and I saw a security guard on his off-time training guy, so I walked up to him, and I was like: ‘Hey, how do I get into boxing?’”
Greer said the man was not sure if she was serious, but she convinced him that she was for real.
“He said he would train me for free, so that's how it started, and I grew to love boxing.”
The boxer said her sport is often misunderstood by non-fans, who do not appreciate its strategy and use of combinations. A combination is a rehearsed series of punches, such as cuts, crosses, jabs, and uppercuts, thrown at the opponent.
“People don't realize that it is more than just throwing random punches,” she said. “It takes a lot of defensive and offensive movement. You have to constantly try to think ahead of the next person as far as combinations go. You can kind of get kind of creative with the combinations.”
The key is to rely on your coach and executing the combinations he calls out, she said.
“It's basically like your coach is playing a video game, and you're just the moving object, so you always want to keep an ear out for your coaches in the corner, the ones telling you what punches and what combinations to throw,” she said.
In this way, the boxer is like the trained Soldier, she said.
“The Army prepared me for that, and I was able to transfer that discipline that I learned or inherited from the Army and put it into boxing,” Greer said.
“As far as training goes, waking up in the morning, preparing for training, relaxing, preparing my mindset for the tournament or competition that I'm competing in,” the boxer said.
“I think just the army side and the boxing side go hand in hand with that aspect, which allowed me to be where I am today,” she said.
The sergeant said her next major match is scheduled for December unless she is called to step up in Paris.
| Date Taken: | 07.29.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 07.31.2024 08:54 |
| Story ID: | 477221 |
| Location: | FORT CARSON, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 191 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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