EDUCATOR SPOTLIGHT
Education Service Specialist Spotlight
Martha Daniels
Columbia Recruiting Battalion
Sept. 14, 2009
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I was born and raised in Augusta, Ga. I graduated from Augusta State University with a B.A. in ... oh, my ... 1971.
Q: What is your background? How and when did you become an Army education specialist?
A: When I graduated from college, I had made no career plans. Just as I began to realize what a bad move that had been, I received a call from the Fort Gordon Civilian Personnel Office (CPO), Ga., on June 30, 1971 saying they had several career intern program positions that needed to be filled before July 1 – the next day!
I immediately went to the CPO and was hired into an inventory management specialist internship. In 1973, the education specialist intern program came to be and I transferred into it. Except for a two year break in service during which I was an adjunct professor of English at Seton Hall University, N.J., I have been in various education specialist positions at Fort Gordon, Germany and Columbia, S.C., for more than 34 years.
Q: Describe a recent engagement with a local educator or school that was particularly successful.
A: We have the most wonderful new initiative in partnership with the South Carolina Department of Education to develop a reaccreditation experience tentatively titled “Military Careers 101” that we plan to conduct in June 2010.
Our goal is to present a three-day workshop in conjunction with Fort Jackson, S.C., to enhance both educator and recruiter understanding of how each plays a role in students’ career paths and the issues they both encounter in doing their jobs. We have formed a committee of eight educators from across the state who meet with various U.S. Army Recruiting Command personnel, usually bi-monthly, to develop the workshop. So far, it has been an amazing experience. These educators are outstanding. They have great expertise and are motivated, caring and patriotic.
Q: Do you have an example of a student who has particularly benefited from an Army education program?
A: There are two examples that come to mind. The first was a graduate from a small high school in the mountains of North Carolina who returned as part of the U.S. Army’s Hometown Recruiting Assistance Program and accompanied me on a visit to his high school after successfully completing the Defense Language Institute as a Hebrew linguist.
The second example was an influencer event at a high school where the recruiter assigned to the school showed several slides of side-by-side, then-and-now photos of Soldiers as they appeared in high school and now in uniform, with script on where they are, what their jobs are and how much college credit they had accumulated. Some were perceived to be “losers” in high school. I saw some of their teachers tear up at their success.
Q: Tell us something about Army education programs that your local education community contacts might be surprised to know.
A: I have never been at an influencer event where the educators are not stunned at the amount of tuition assistance, GI Bill/Army College Fund and Loan Repayment Plan Funds are offered by the Army.
Q: What has been your most memorable moment working for the Army?
A: This is a tough choice. Before I came to CPO in June 1971, I had never been on an Army installation and the Army might as well have been a foreign country for all I knew. But it didn’t take long for me to realize it and the Soldiers in it form the finest institution literally in the world. It’s not just been one moment; it’s been the continuous honor and privilege of being part of the Army that has kept me here with no desire to be elsewhere. I suppose if I had to pick one moment, it would be the day I found the Soldier I would marry.
