AFGHANISTAN - U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Rachel Baranek, a native of Springfield, Mo., joined the Army when she was 17 years old, and now, more than nine years later, has two tours of duty in Afghanistan under her belt.

“My [grandfather] was in the military,” she explained. “He was in the Army for 21 and a half years. He retired a staff sergeant, served in Vietnam, served in Desert Shield/Desert Storm.”

Baranek, who is the first member of her family to serve since her grandfather, and is currently the non-commissioned officer in charge of the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division’s battalion aid station and female engagement team, said there are many reasons she decided to join.

“I needed a change of pace, didn’t really have the desire to go to college at the time, was still young and wanted to get out and see things,” she explained. “So, I joined the military and basically gained some values and some morals and I have a better life because of it.”

Not growing up in a privileged community, her family was without a home for a short period of time. The Army added stability to her life, explained Baranek.

“Yes, we move, we don’t know where we’re going to be a year from now; we don’t know where we’re going to be tomorrow,” she said. “But I know I have a home, and I know that when tomorrow comes I’m still going to be with a paycheck. I’m still going to be with the greatest job on Earth and I’m still going to be able to help people every single day.”

Baranek said she wanted to feel like she has earned the rights she enjoys.

“I believe that being part of a bigger organization than myself and representing something bigger than myself is my way of earning my freedom and my way of life, and that of my family,” she said.

Having experienced both good and bad leadership throughout her career gives her the drive to lead her soldiers toward success.

“I have my blood family; then I have my brothers and sisters in arms,” she said. “Knowing that I can make a difference in their lives, knowing that they wouldn’t have the same quality of life, quality of career without me motivates me to stay in. [I know what to do] and what not to do to my soldiers. There were things I didn’t like, but I don’t have to repeat them; I don’t have to make a cycle out of it.”

The ability to influence soldiers is what keeps her motivated every day.

“Knowing that my soldiers have that positive influence in me, and I can teach them what to be versus what not to be – that motivates me to want to teach these soldiers, to want to stay in and to want to have an effect on their lives and help them have a positive view of the military,” she said. “That positive effect is what makes every day worth getting up for.”

“I love the Army,” she said with pride. “I love it for everything that it is, everything that it isn’t, everything it has been, will be and can be.”

“The Army has given me the opportunity to make something bigger of myself and be better than what I could’ve been,” she said.

She hopes the growth doesn’t stop until she reaches her ultimate goal of becoming the first female Sergeant Major of the Army, said Baranek.

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