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Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Yulissa Tavarez conducts maintenance on an F/A-18F Super Hornet in the hangar bay of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the Pacific Ocean, Aug. 3, 2021. The Carl Vinson Strike Group is deployed in support of global maritime security operations.
Army Spc. Tyler Boyer administers the COVID-19 vaccine to another soldier at Fort Carson, Colo., Aug 3, 2021. Soldiers remain committed to keeping the Fort Carson community safe and healthy by offering COVID-19 vaccines at mobile vaccination centers.
McGruff the Crime Dog greets students as they return to school at Fort Stewart, Ga., August, 3, 2021. Students are observing social distancing and wearing face masks due to COVID-19 as they head back to school following summer break.
A skydiver assigned to Wings of Blue, the U.S. Air Force Academy parachute demonstration team, descends to the ground during the Wings Over Warren air show at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., July 28, 2021.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared Earp sets up a controlled entry point at a forward arming and refueling point during Exercise Eagle Wrath 21 at Combined Arms Training Center Camp Fuji, Japan, July 23, 2021. The annual exercise aims to increase the combat readiness of Marine Wing Support Squadron 171.
The amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington sails alongside the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Joshua Humphreys during a nighttime replenishment in the Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 2, 2021. A long shutter speed was used in this photo to create the blurring effect.
Marines prepare to conduct a boat assault force training exercise in the Coral Sea July 20, 2021, during Talisman Saber, a large-scale U.S.-Australia military exercise.
An Air Force MC-130J Commando II performs a flare jettison during an air power demonstration as part of the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh night show at Wittman Regional Airport, Wis., July 31, 2021.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Cole McEachern, a firefighter technician, extinguishes a fire during a controlled burn exercise at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, July 28, 2021.
A soldier assigned to the 25th Infantry Division Artillery participates in a "This Is My Squad" competition at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, July 29, 2021. The 36-hour event aimed to build strong, cohesive teams through tough, realistic training.
Marine Corps Cpl. Luke Mellor provides security on a range during an exercise at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif., July 30, 2021.
An Air Force airman pilots an F-22 Raptor from the F-22 Raptor Demonstration Team at the Battle Creek Field of Flight Air Show and Balloon Festival, Battle Creek, Mich., July 5, 2021.
Army Spc. Totaram Dhanpat maneuvers through an obstacle during U.S. Army Medical Command’s 2021 Best Leader competition at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, July 26, 2021.
Marine Corps officer candidates navigate through the combat course during Officer Candidates School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., July 29, 2021. The course simulates an environment that may be encountered on the battlefield.
Aug. 4, 2021 | BY SKIP VAUGHN
Jane Hoelscher remembers her fifth-grade teacher in Michigan calling her dad a "baby killer" for being a soldier in Vietnam in 1965-66. She remembers the protesters at the airport spitting in her dad's face when he returned home.
She remembers two soldiers mistakenly coming to her house in 1968 to tell them that her dad had been killed in Vietnam even though he was at work at his steel mill job.
But none of that stopped Hoelscher from joining the Army in 1975.
"I was the oldest [of three children]. I wanted to be independent," she said.
Hoelscher, an elementary school teacher in Clayton County, Georgia, near Atlanta, served in the Army from 1975-81 and left as a sergeant.
"I believe that the military gave me integrity, dignity, respect – respect for myself and respect for others – and a firm work ethic," she said.
Besides wanting independence, she also joined because she liked traveling and wanted training for a job. Growing up in an Army family, she was used to traveling with her parents and younger sister and brother.
Her father, Robert Harrison, first served from 1952-54, before marrying her mother. He joined again in 1956 and served until 1966. He left active duty as a staff sergeant when he returned home in 1966, and he retired from the Army Reserve in 1981 as a first sergeant. Harrison, a heavy smoker, died in 1983 from a massive heart attack. He was 53.
"Being that I was the oldest, I was very influenced by the military when I was a child," Hoelscher said.
She graduated from high school in Riverview, Michigan, in 1973. Her father had always told her she needed a college degree if she was going to be successful. Hoelscher went to Monroe Community College in Monroe, Michigan, from 1973-75 and earned an associate degree in journalism.
Hoelscher was mature for her age, at college she connected with older students who were Vietnam veterans. She could tell what rank they were when they wore their old uniform shirts in the cafeteria. They were using the GI Bill, which was about to change after 1975. Hoelscher got accepted to Central Michigan University, but she couldn't afford it. She ended up with two part-time jobs at the local mall.
She discussed her options with her father, who was then in the Army Reserve, and decided the Army was her best option. She wanted to join before Christmas of 1975 before the new changes in the GI Bill went into effect, so she entered that October. Her mother, Helen Harrison, remembering the Army's mistaken identity death report in 1968, got upset about her decision. Her mother died last May.
Hoelscher did basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. She received advanced individual training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, as a radio teletype Morse code operator. Coincidentally, her dad had been a radio teletype operator and infantryman. She went to Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and finally Darmstadt, Germany, from 1979-81 where she finished her career.
"I was one of the last groups of WACs [Women's Army Corps]," Hoelscher said.
She earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Drury University, Springfield, Missouri, in 1987, a master's in early childhood education from West Georgia, Carrollton, Georgia, in 1998 and a specialist degree from Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee, in 2012.
She did her student teaching in Missouri, and she served as a teacher for the Defense Department in Germany from 1990-92. She saw the Berlin Wall come down while working in Bamberg after seeing the wall go up as a child when her dad was stationed in Germany. She arrived in Georgia in the summer of 1992, and she has taught in Clayton County for the past 28 years. She plans to retire June 1 after more than 30 years of teaching.
Her former husband, William, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War, died from cancer in 2014. Her daughter, Julie, who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, resides in Atlanta.
Hoelscher, 65, who resides in Henry County, Georgia, plans to resume traveling after the pandemic. She also enjoys reading historical fiction.
She shared her thoughts on this nation's commemoration of 50 years since the Vietnam War.
"We have to learn from our mistakes," she said. "And we have to face
the challenges of the next century. We have to use technology to make
our lives better, but technology doesn't need to rule our lives."
(Skip Vaughn is an editor at the Redstone Rocket at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.)
Air Force airman Daniel Norrin transports ordnance on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during routine operations in the Pacific Ocean, July 8, 2021.
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