Samantha Hartman left for Marine Corps boot camp one hour after her 2001 high school graduation, still wearing her cap and gown. The oldest of five was raised by her single mother and says the expense of college wasn’t practical at the time.
“It was either get a job and never experience life, or join the military and see everything,” she says.
Hartman says her three-month training in Parris Island, South Carolina was a culture shock.
“The first 10 days, it was like walking around with two left feet; I didn’t know right from left. It was almost controlled chaos,” Harman says.
Recalling a moment in time when she felt weakened, Hartman wondered if she made the right choice. But she was determined to finish what she started then, and that perseverance remained.
Going through the ranks
Just as she hoped, Hartman’s more than a decade spent in the Marine Corps took her around the world. Trained in field radio, satellite and communications, Hartman also spent time at the Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, managing classified materials. She was deployed three times, once to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. Hartman says her last 14-month deployment to Iraq was the most difficult.
“It was hard emotionally and mentally,” Hartman says. “You’re missing all the holidays. It was almost like time stopped when you left, even though your family was carrying on.”
After returning to the U.S. in 2008, Hartman reenlisted and became a Combat Instructor at the School of Infantry in North Carolina. There she spent four years training new recruits and became the mentor she never had. She felt a special pull to help other female recruits, who make up just 9% of Marines.
“I loved it, I liked having an impact on the junior Marines,” Hartman says, “I didn’t have that guidance as I was going through the ranks. There aren’t a lot of female Marines, so I really didn’t have anyone to look up to.”
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