Courtesy Photo | BAQUBAH, Iraq (March 31, 2006) -- Warrant Officer Priscilla Pettus (left) watches one...... read more read more
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Spc. Lee Elder
133rd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
BAQUBAH, Iraq (April 7, 2006) - As the U.S. Army expands opportunities in the warrant officer field, the image of the middle-aged, sometimes crotchety, officer-technician is rapidly changing as younger Soldiers enter its ranks.
Warrant Officer Priscilla Pettus typifies the new breed of warrant officer. She's younger, she's college educated and she's a female. The Cincinnati native is also excited about having a new pathway to excel in her Army career.
Pettus serves as the electronic maintenance technician for the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, and is based at Forward Operating Base Warhorse here. She supervises a staff that runs a repair facility which fixes and maintains key equipment like night-vision goggles, sensitive communications equipment and the all-important communication systems that the Army uses to protect its convoys from improvised explosive devices.
"We get anything that doesn't fall under a particular shop that has an electronic background," Pettus said.
It's a tall order for a slender, blue-eyed blonde who looks even younger than her 26 years. However, she's confident in her ability to do the job.
"I love my job," Pettus said. "I think it's a good career move, and I like to think I'm really good at it."
Pettus entered the Army shortly after graduating from Western Hills High School in 1998. She was on the promotion list for staff sergeant last year when she made a daring career move opting to become an Army warrant officer.
Pettus immediately was impressed by warrant officers upon entering the Army. She said several warrants at Fort Bragg, N.C. " her first permanent duty station " made impressions on her.
"I always had a lot of respect for my warrant officers because whenever there was something I couldn't find or didn't know the answer to, my warrant officers always seemed to know how to find it," Pettus said. "Those were the people you went to when you just couldn't find a part or you just couldn't find a solution or you were stumped and you couldn't fix it.
"They had a lot of influence."
Pettus works for Capt. Michael Stealey who commands Company B, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, which is a part of 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, Task Force Band of Brothers. He first met Pettus in January 2004 when she was a sergeant who was holding a position normally given to a senior non-commissioned officer.
"She had potential written all over her," Stealey said. "Not only was she working two levels up, but she was supervising four of her peers.
"I could think of no one better suited to become a warrant officer."
The move was not without sacrifices. Pettus spent six grueling weeks at Warrant Officer Candidate School at Fort Rucker, Ala., and then did follow-on training at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., and Fort Gordon, Ga., and now serves as an Army Ordnance Corps warrant officer.
Oddly enough, this career move brought her back to Company B, 64th Brigade Support Battalion, where she had served during the unit's rotation here two years ago.
"I'm still doing the same job I was doing before, but only at a higher level," Pettus said. "I deal with higher-ranking people that I answered to before. Now, I am briefing the colonel, the battalion (executive officer), and working very closely with my company commander."
Stealey, also a former non-commissioned officer who gained his commission via ROTC through the Green to Gold program, was glad to have Pettus back for a second tour. He said he worked to get her back into his company after she completed her schooling.
"I was very confident in her ability," Stealey said. "She has really hit the ground running.
"She has had to learn a lot of new systems and has become quite proficient in them."
One of her biggest supporters was her husband, Gary. He's a corporal who serves in the same company and works in the unit armory.
"He was more than supportive," Pettus said. "He was very patient through almost eight months worth of school.
"He's proud of me and that makes it really easy."
Husbands and wives can now cohabit while they are deployed. Despite that, their time together is often limited by the long duty days.
"Here we're both pretty busy," Pettus said. "Because we're in the same company, we tend to do chow together and afterwards we spend our time together.
"Most of the time during the day, he's going one direction and I'm going the other."
Pettus has a 9-year-old stepdaughter. The couple wants to have children at some point, but Pettus isn't sure when she will have the time.
"If I can get a break from out here," she said with a laugh.
Despite her relative youth, Pettus said she realizes now that she is a mentor and a role model to many young Soldiers both male and female. She said she wants to inspire younger Soldiers to excel.
"Because I'm young, it tends to be a little bit more of an encouragement for them," Pettus said. "I came up thinking that warrant officers were the older guys and it took them forever to get there.
"The fact that I got picked up relatively young, it makes it more achievable to them."
Pettus said she relishes the chance to mentor young Soldiers. She uses her past experiences as a non-commissioned officer to her advantage.
"I still feel really approachable by the other soldiers," Pettus said. "I think some of them knew I was enlisted and my husband is enlisted, they are not as hesitant to approach me about things."
In addition to learning the ropes as a warrant officer, Pettus" shop is learning a host of new systems being fielded while her unit is in Iraq. The task adds to the challenge facing her during the next year, but she remains undaunted.
"I still love my job so it's been pretty interesting," Pettus said. "I've learned a lot and I am pretty much happy with how it has turned out."
| Date Taken: | 04.14.2006 |
| Date Posted: | 04.14.2006 12:00 |
| Story ID: | 6030 |
| Location: | BAQUBAH, IQ |
| Web Views: | 163 |
| Downloads: | 13 |
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