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Although there have been adjustments-even slight frustrations-in
Army life, they are a small price for the education.
For instance, if she is to be somewhere at 0900 hours,
it comes down as 0850 and then 0830 as the order is
passed through the chain of command, she said. "I'm
there at 0820 … just to make sure I'm there on
time. If you're a person who's usually on the go, on
the move, you do this and you do that and move on to
another task, that's a little frustrating. But I'm getting
used to it and I'm on time for everything," she
said with a laugh.
As for schooling, "The Army forces education down
your throat, whether you want it or not," Desriviere
said. "I love education. My parents always taught
me that education was the way to get anything you want
in this life. The more education you have, the more
valuable you become to the people you're working for
and to yourself. So that aspect of it is just thrilling
to me, to be able to go to school and have them pay
for it. It's a beautiful thing."
Unlike Rhodes and Desriviere, 28-year-old Lall of New
York City is not new to the Army. He had served eight
years as a combat medic with an infantry battalion of
the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., and
the 4th Ranger Battalion at Fort Benning, Ga., when
he was accepted into the Enlisted Commissioning Program
and assigned, on the Army's payroll, to earn his associate's
degree in nursing at nearby Columbus State University.
"The beauty of the program is you stay on active
duty. I was still being paid as a staff sergeant, getting
all my medical benefits for my family, living in military
housing," said Lall, who is married and has twin
7-year-old daughters. "My duty was to attend college
and finish up my degree."
If all goes well, Lall is far from finished with Army
nursing's commitment to education.
His post after Officers Basic Course is Eisenhower
Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga., and "in
a couple of years" he plans to submit an application
to be considered for nurse anesthetist school. "But
my short-term goal is to learn as much as I can about
nursing from a critical care and emergency perspective,"
a carryover from what he enjoyed most as a medic, he
said.
"You cannot be successful in the Army right now
in the 21st century without education. That's the No.1
key thing for professional progression."
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