thedrifter
12-30-06, 08:13 AM
Marines assign first woman to teach warfare
Saturday, December 30, 2006
BY MONICA VON DOBENECK
Of Our Palmyra Bureau
CAMPBELLTOWN - Amy Alger was always a tomboy, according to her father, John.
She never wore dresses. She sometimes outplayed the boys on her Little League team. She was named an all-state basketball player in high school. She liked mountain biking, body building, field hockey and softball, and she milked cows on the family farm.
Now, Maj. Amy Alger has become the first woman to teach warfare at the Marine Corps school at Quantico, Va. Her photo appeared in a recent Parade magazine article about the new Marines museum.
Her commanding officer, Col. Joseph Osterman, called Alger "a very, very professional officer." She has the combination of skills, personality, leadership and combat experience the Marine Corps is looking for in its faculty advisers in the Expeditionary Warfare School, he said.
Alger grew up doing chores on the farm near Campbelltown, which helped make her "more thick-skinned to do whatever it takes," she said recently while home on break.
She graduated from Palmyra Area High School in 1985 as a standout athlete. She majored in psychology at Duquesne University, where she was named an outstanding student athlete.
She struggled finding jobs after school and joined the Marines, she said. She was the first in her family to join the military.
"It married well with my lifestyle," she said. "I was always very regimented and disciplined. ... I wanted to stand on my own two feet."
John Alger said he didn't know his daughter had enlisted until a Marine knocked on the door at 5 a.m. one day in 1990 to pick her up.
"It was quite a shock," he said.
Amy Alger began her military career as a photographer but quickly moved up the ranks. Among her assignments, she was the commanding officer for female recruits on Parris Island, S.C.
In 2004, she went to Iraq, where she was stationed near the fighting in Fallujah. She said she had a couple of close calls, but "nothing unusual."
Her dad sees it differently.
"She was almost killed two times over there," he said. "One time, a roadside bomb went off up in the air instead of sideways, so missed her Humvee. Another time, she was meeting with 25 of her officers in a tent when rockets started coming in. Four exploded in remote parts of the base, but one landed 25 feet from the tent. It would have killed everything within 300 feet, but it was a dud."
John Alger said he isn't surprised his daughter makes light of it. "It's the Marine thing. They want to be tough," he said.
Amy Alger said she has an opinion about what's happening in Iraq, but as an officer isn't ready to "broadcast it."
Alger said she had few problems because of her gender. There were a couple of incidents when she first enlisted, but since becoming an officer she has been treated with respect, she said.
She teaches mostly her specialty, communication, but also warfare theory, ground combat, leadership, ethics, amphibious combat and all the other disciplines taught at the school.
While she teaches a lot in the classroom, she also spends several weeks a year in field studies. Most of the students are men, but there are one or two women in each class.
Alger is "very well accepted" by the men, Osterman said. He's been in the Marine Corps for 25 years and has seen the gradual change in attitude about women in the military.
"Over the years, we have really become almost gender-neutral," he said. "In Iraq, nobody gets special treatment."
John Alger said he's not surprised his daughter has done well.
"She's always been a go-getter," he said. "I thought she'd become a general if she stayed in."
That is unlikely. Amy Alger said she will probably resign in three years, when she'll have 20 years of service.
MONICA VON DOBENECK: 832-2090 or mdobeneck@patriot-news.com
Ellie
Saturday, December 30, 2006
BY MONICA VON DOBENECK
Of Our Palmyra Bureau
CAMPBELLTOWN - Amy Alger was always a tomboy, according to her father, John.
She never wore dresses. She sometimes outplayed the boys on her Little League team. She was named an all-state basketball player in high school. She liked mountain biking, body building, field hockey and softball, and she milked cows on the family farm.
Now, Maj. Amy Alger has become the first woman to teach warfare at the Marine Corps school at Quantico, Va. Her photo appeared in a recent Parade magazine article about the new Marines museum.
Her commanding officer, Col. Joseph Osterman, called Alger "a very, very professional officer." She has the combination of skills, personality, leadership and combat experience the Marine Corps is looking for in its faculty advisers in the Expeditionary Warfare School, he said.
Alger grew up doing chores on the farm near Campbelltown, which helped make her "more thick-skinned to do whatever it takes," she said recently while home on break.
She graduated from Palmyra Area High School in 1985 as a standout athlete. She majored in psychology at Duquesne University, where she was named an outstanding student athlete.
She struggled finding jobs after school and joined the Marines, she said. She was the first in her family to join the military.
"It married well with my lifestyle," she said. "I was always very regimented and disciplined. ... I wanted to stand on my own two feet."
John Alger said he didn't know his daughter had enlisted until a Marine knocked on the door at 5 a.m. one day in 1990 to pick her up.
"It was quite a shock," he said.
Amy Alger began her military career as a photographer but quickly moved up the ranks. Among her assignments, she was the commanding officer for female recruits on Parris Island, S.C.
In 2004, she went to Iraq, where she was stationed near the fighting in Fallujah. She said she had a couple of close calls, but "nothing unusual."
Her dad sees it differently.
"She was almost killed two times over there," he said. "One time, a roadside bomb went off up in the air instead of sideways, so missed her Humvee. Another time, she was meeting with 25 of her officers in a tent when rockets started coming in. Four exploded in remote parts of the base, but one landed 25 feet from the tent. It would have killed everything within 300 feet, but it was a dud."
John Alger said he isn't surprised his daughter makes light of it. "It's the Marine thing. They want to be tough," he said.
Amy Alger said she has an opinion about what's happening in Iraq, but as an officer isn't ready to "broadcast it."
Alger said she had few problems because of her gender. There were a couple of incidents when she first enlisted, but since becoming an officer she has been treated with respect, she said.
She teaches mostly her specialty, communication, but also warfare theory, ground combat, leadership, ethics, amphibious combat and all the other disciplines taught at the school.
While she teaches a lot in the classroom, she also spends several weeks a year in field studies. Most of the students are men, but there are one or two women in each class.
Alger is "very well accepted" by the men, Osterman said. He's been in the Marine Corps for 25 years and has seen the gradual change in attitude about women in the military.
"Over the years, we have really become almost gender-neutral," he said. "In Iraq, nobody gets special treatment."
John Alger said he's not surprised his daughter has done well.
"She's always been a go-getter," he said. "I thought she'd become a general if she stayed in."
That is unlikely. Amy Alger said she will probably resign in three years, when she'll have 20 years of service.
MONICA VON DOBENECK: 832-2090 or mdobeneck@patriot-news.com
Ellie