2nd Lt. Trang Jorgensen, formerly an enlisted specialist with a military intelligence (MI) company, completed Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Ft. Meade, S.D. this summer. Before entering the accelerated, eight-week program, she spent three months drilling at the 185th Regional Training Institute (RTI) on Camp Dodge to prepare.

Sgt. 1st Class Traci Uitdeflesch, a Runnells, Iowa resident and platoon trainer at the 185th RTI, served as a mentor for the officer candidates prior to their departure to Ft. Meade.

“[Jorgensen’s] very motivated,” Uitdeflesch said. “She’s always trying to learn more. She’s constantly seeking more information or experience.”

According to the RTI staff, Jorgensen entered the OCS program with the intention of becoming a military intelligence officer. When she learned there weren’t many intelligence slots available, Uitdeflesch told her she had the option to pursue a leadership role within a combat unit.

On Dec. 3, 2015, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced all gender-based restrictions in every branch of the military would be lifted. The first of these restrictions was lifted in January 2016, just three months before Jorgensen began preparing for OCS.
Jorgensen, born in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, moved to the United States with her family in 2000. While she currently resides in Ankeny, she grew up in Des Moines.

“I always wanted to be infantry,” Jorgensen said. As a child, she thought infantry was the only job a Soldier could have. “I kind of made it a personal goal that as soon as I could, I’d go [infantry].”
The decision was easy for Jorgensen. She said she received nothing but positive feedback and support from both her peers and the RTI staff.

Col. Steve Kremer, the185th RTI commandant, said Jorgensen’s decision didn’t surprise him.

Kremer, a Cherokee, Iowa resident, has built his career as an infantry officer, serving as a company and battalion commander, and brigade deputy commander within the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. He said the debate over women in combat was settled for him when he served as commander of the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Battalion during a deployment to Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, Kremer’s infantrymen were supported by a forward support company and a military police company, both of which included female Soldiers.

“The females in the [support units] were going out on logistical patrols…they’re taking all the same risks,” Kremer said. “They’re right out there in combat, just the same as our male Soldiers were.”
Kremer first became aware Jorgensen was interested in becoming an infantry officer after she boarded to attend the accelerated OCS program.

“She was top of the board, she was phenomenal,” Kremer said. “Her personality and her drive to do well made me confident she had the basic qualities you would want in a leader that’s going to be in a combat arms MOS (military occupational specialty).”

Jorgensen and two of her peers were selected for the accelerated course. Then-Officer Candidates James Weltha and Jeff Garretto, both of Ames, trained alongside Jorgensen from the start of their journey at the 185th RTI in March through their August commissioning ceremony, where they each became second lieutenants.

“She’s got this infallible work ethic,” Weltha said. “She’s the last one off the field trying to get something done and the first one up in the morning trying to get started.”

Garretto, a fellow infantry officer, said Jorgensen was not only mentally prepared to lead, but physically as well.

“When everyone else quits, Jorgensen’s still running,” Garretto said. “I’d go to combat with her in a minute.”

When describing Jorgensen, staff and peers frequently use words like, ”standout,” “squared away,” “calm” and “professional.” When listing her leadership skills, everyone agrees her humility and level-headedness are among her strengths.

“There’s never a point where she thinks she’s smarter than you,” Weltha said, “even though she probably is.”

Now that Jorgensen has received her commission, she’s headed to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry in Council Bluffs where she’ll gain experience as a rifle platoon leader prior to leaving for the Infantry Basic Officer Leader Course in Ft. Benning, Ga.

While Jorgensen’s peers and mentors remain confident in her abilities to lead a combat unit, the lingering question is whether she’ll be accepted in an all-male unit.

“I’m confident she’ll be welcomed and given every opportunity to perform,” Kremer said.

Regarding any reservations Jorgensen has about moving forward and joining her infantry unit, she’s expectedly stoic.

“Everything’s a mental game in the Army, I’ve learned,” Jorgensen said. “It’s not to say I won’t have any challenges in the future, but I’m prepared for those challenges.”

"It was 0515 on 15 September 1916.The German listening posts on the edge of the Delville Woods picked up strange and ominous sounds coming from the British trenches, but the de-fenders were not overly alarmed. British bodies still littered No Man’s Land from the last futile attempt to dislodge the Bavarians from their strongpoint. But now, something was desperately wrong. Out of the pre-dawn darkness rolled a weapon the likes of which the Bavarian farm boys had never seen. As the mechanical monster opened fire, the startled Germans quickly fled or surrendered. This mechanical monster was “D1,” a Mark I tank of D Company, Heavy Section, Machine Gun Corps; the first tank in history to go into combat.The Battle of Flers-Courcelette is separated from the stunning armored penetrations of the Gulf War by only 75 years. Though the tanks of those battles are as dissimilar as the Wright Brothers’ Flyer is to a stealth fighter, some of the basic concepts and problems of armored warfare have not changed. The first tank battle begins a legacy of training, maintenance, and infantry-armor cooperation that has remained with us even as technology and tactics have evolved."

-Captain Richard S. Faulkner, March/April 1995 Armor Magazine. http://www.benning.army.mil/…/MA…/ArmorMarchApril1995web.pdf

Images courtesy of http://mapleleafup.ca/ww1/sommetanks.html. Painting courtesy of http://www.warmuseum.ca/…/official-…/battle-of-courcelette/….

"We were extremely fortunate, all our people are safe," said Col. Scott St. Sauver, Camp Ripley Garrison Commander. "We can repair buildings and replace damaged equipment, but our people are irreplaceable."

Damage assessments continue today, but most damage consist of collapsed roofs, fallen trees, debris and damaged vehicles throughout garrison areas of Camp Ripley.

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