CONTINUED...
KARIN BROWN, COM '23 (UNITED STATES ARMY, RET.)
Student Doctor Brown served in the US Army as an Enlisted Specialist from 2003-2006. During that time, she served as a Medical Laboratory Specialist, 91K at Fort Campbell, KY MEDDAC.
"At 22 years old, I was working overnight at Target restocking shelves and during the day in food services, two of many entry-level minimum wage jobs I had worked since 17 years old, and I was still struggling to pay for college and find time to study while trying to get out of living in poverty. The Army gave excellent job training in the medical field as a medical technician. I was able to obtain an associate’s degree through the interservice contract between Medical Education and Training Contract at Ft. Sam Houston and George Washington University. This allowed me to get out of the poverty I was living in, give me job training in an interesting field of work, and provide me with scholarship benefits to complete my undergraduate degree.
After an honorable discharge, I was easily able to find full time employment and completed my bachelor’s degree without having to juggle two to three jobs to pay my bills and take up most of my time.
When I served, I spent many hours in the lab at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital. This allowed me to appreciate what military medicine, from the pathology department, has to offer. Military medicine is extremely interesting because while you are given a set of responsibilities and expectations, you also are not limited to those roles and most of the time can choose to volunteer for more. For example, I aided with autopsies, was given leadership responsibilities, communicated well with the emergency room during high stress times, volunteered for guard duty on maternity ward, and several other roles I would not have otherwise been able to participate in as a civilian. Additionally, during training, I was sent to deployment readiness camps where I helped troops prepare for deployment back in the day to Afghanistan.
The military provides excellent job training, requires accountability, and has clearly defined levels of promotion to strive for. There is a great deal of diversity in the military, as an enlisted soldier, since a majority of enlisted persons do not come from well to-do backgrounds or have experienced traditional education or traditional families, for that matter. I found the diversity to be a critical aspect in molding my appreciation for the military as well as my interest in serving underserved populations as I continue my education here at UNE COM."