RUNNING HARD AND FEARLESS. . .

Do you feel that you were treated differently because you were a woman?

"Absolutely, no doubt, definitely..."

Sexual Harassment was the toughest part of being in the military for Laurie. Throughout her military career sexual harassment was an issue she constantly dealt with. Being just young women who have not experienced what she went through, we are left astonished not only at the problems that she faced but the strength of character that it served to prove. Laurie’s true character shines through in this following story as she overcomes this unthinkable obstacle that so many women have to face. She truly demonstrates the power of a woman.

"...I know it was so bad when I arrived at Fort Bragg. I honestly didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it. Because if I thought my advanced training was tough, it was a million times worse at Fort Bragg."

"You had to be prepared to get up in the morning for Physical Training at 6 a.m. You had to run 4-6 miles in a whole group, you should have seen us; just the whole unit would go out. And I couldn’t do it at first. I had never done that. You know, I wasn’t prepared for it at first and all of the training that they wanted you to do and they pushed it. I had a Platoon Sergeant, he was from North Carolina, and he was probably one of the meanest men I have ever met in my entire life. He would drag me into his office day after day, after day, and tell me if you do this, this, and this for me and [you know what I’m saying] then you won’t be pushed as hard as your being pushed. I just kept saying just dish it out, just keep sending me on the runs, and whatever it takes. I spent a lot of my free time in the evenings just running and running and running so I would get so good that I could run circles around them. I did reach the point. It didn’t take long before I was at the level that even the men were having a hard time at. And I got so good that they would put me on the front corner that was like a position of honor, honestly. I would pace the entire company as we would go out for our runs. There was a General’s 20 mile run and I was the only woman to finish the run and I felt really good about that. So it was, it was rough. The harassment was there from the day I went in till the day I left. But it had definitely been harder for me to handle at first, at only 18, 19 years old."

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