Salute to veterans — Diane Minniefield: Recognizing dream of service later than most

Diane Minniefield was sitting in an Army recruiting office in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, in 1994.

The 34-year-old was there with her niece who was enlisting. Minniefield once had a dream of being in the Navy and tried to enter the military herself.

"And when I tried to join, I had a kid, and they did not accept single parents," Minniefield said.

She was content to let her dream be just that. She had made a living as a licensed practical nurse.

While her niece was going through the process, the recruiter simply looked at her and asked "So, why don't you join?"

"Well, I used to want to, but I'm too old now," Minniefield said.

"Well how old are you?" the recruiter responded.

"I'm 34."

"The cutoff is 35."

"We got six months, let's get busy."

Basic training

By March 1st of 1995, Minniefield was reporting for basic training in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Minniefield said she was "elated," if not a little unprepared for basic. The weather was cold, and the drill sergeant who got on the bus shortly after arrival startled Minniefield when he yelled at the recruits to "Get off my bus!"

"I almost soiled my clothes," she said with a laugh.

Minniefield quickly settled into a routine from there. She said she didn't bother anyone; so they didn't bother her.

The age gap was something most would find challenging. Minniefield was surrounded by people barely old enough to be at basic training, not almost aging out. However, her experience as a mother allowed her to bond with her compatriots. She became a maternal figure for her fellow recruits.

"And, that's what they called me, 'Mom'," Minniefield said.

She had what many of the 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds didn't — wisdom. Minniefield said the physical aspect of keeping up with young cadets, around the age of her own children, was tough at times, but she made it through.

"They supported me, and I supported them," she said.

Minniefield said part of basic training was easy for her because she knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to continue helping people as a nurse in the Army.

Upon graduation, Minniefield was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. From there, she would have numerous postings both across the U.S. and the globe.

She would be stationed in Germany and participate in a peacekeeping mission to Kosovo. While in the Balkans, Minniefield and others in her unit "adopted" a little girl. Around April 2000, a newborn baby was left at the gates of Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. They named her April Bondsteel.

She recalled another time in which she helped treat a girl who had been shot. There was a hole in her upper arm "the size of an orange," Minniefield said.

"Just to see, you know, what people actually go through in other countries," she said, "You know, we take for granted the freedoms that we have."

During her time in the military, Minniefield was also stationed in South Korea. Her favorite part of that deployment was teaching local children English on the weekends.

Maybe contrary to her fellow soldiers' experiences, Minniefield said she had more freedom in the military than she did in her civilian career, doing things she said she wasn't allowed to do as an LPN in civilian life.

"You get a lot of in-depth training in the military that you don't as a civilian," Minniefield said.

Minniefield's time in the service totaled around 20 years. She retired with the rank of staff sergeant, her last posting was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. It was there that she said her outlook on the military changed.

Minniefield was the non-commissioned officer in charge of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, where all of the "mangled" soldiers from war were sent, she said. It made her realize that her time left in the service was short.

"To realize that the families of those heroes would never be the same; to see the loved ones separated from their support system, while supporting their mate, that was forever changed and not knowing what to do, it broke me, made me angry," she said.

One interaction that perhaps bothered her most was when she met an 18-year-old in the elevator. The soldier was injured in Afghanistan in his first deployment out of basic. He had no legs.

Despite her feelings toward the end, Minniefield still said she recommends joining the military to anyone.

"You know, seriously, anybody that has a goal and has a plan and wants to accomplish something, the military can only help you. It's not a hindrance. It's only a hindrance if you make it one," Minniefield said.

"I would do it all over again," she added later.

Minniefield isn't most proud of her own service, however, but that of her daughter, who served 21 years in the military. When Minniefield was at her first station duty in Texas, her daughter went with her. Minniefield gave her daughter an ultimatum, you either go to college or join. She joined.

Minniefield called her a "mini-me" who has done better than her mother. Her daughter worked in logistics and deployed several times to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now both are out of the military and retired. Minniefield lives in Malden, Missouri. Sticking with her theme of doing things on a different timeline than most, she is working on a degree at Southeast Missouri State University, hoping to work in human resource management. She's planning to graduate in December.