Chattanoogan is the first woman in Tennessee to enlist in once male-only Army combat unit

Alayna Becker, a Soddy-Daisy High School junior, is the first woman in Tennessee to enlist in the Army in a combat roll.
Alayna Becker, a Soddy-Daisy High School junior, is the first woman in Tennessee to enlist in the Army in a combat roll.

Alayna Becker's earliest memories with her grandfather were crawling into his lap to hear stories of his days driving tanks in Vietnam and following him to his closet, where he showed her his neatly pressed Army uniform and a sword safely tucked away in its case.

Listening to his stories spiked her curiosity about the past and fueled her desire to enlist as soon as she was old enough to sign the papers with her mom.

As an athletic 17-year-old who never settled for being second or backed down from a dare, it was fitting that when she did enlist she became the first woman in Tennessee to sign up for an elite Army unit that was previously male-only.

After the federal government opened combat positions to women this spring, Becker said she knew she was up to the challenge to prove women could do just as well as men in the same role.

"I don't like losing. I don't lose," she said. "I want to out-prove everyone, to prove I belong there."

As a U.S. Army Cavalry Scout, the Soddy-Daisy junior could by mid-2017 be deployed and on missions scouting ahead of the infantry or tanks to gather information and report back to her unit.

"That's what I'm praying," she said with a laugh. "I'll go anywhere. As long as I'm not sitting on a base."

But first Becker has to graduate from high school and pass basic training, where she will be headed next June at Fort Benning near Columbus, Ga.

Staff Sgt. Nicholas Berkey, who helped recruit Becker when she visited the Army Career Center in Hixson, said Becker's energetic personality and competitive spirit made it obvious to recruiters she was the right fit for a combat role in the Army.

"Her mentality is exactly how I used to be and still am," said Berkey, who drove tanks before he became a recruiter. "I always wanted to be first and be successful, so I know from my own experience that she can be successful."

Becker, who is originally from Spencer, Iowa, a town of 11,000, loved to push herself physically. She learned to water ski at 3. She remembers climbing to the roof to watch her stepdad work at 5, and jumping out of a treehouse when she tried to use a hang glider with a hanger that broke. But her favorite pastime was to walk to her grandparents' house, where her grandfather read her stories and showed her documentaries of Vietnam and World War II.

"I didn't dress up, didn't like Barbie dolls and I've worn make up like once," she said."I got in trouble a lot for getting hurt."

When she was in fourth grade, she moved with her mom and stepfather to Soddy-Daisy. While she saw her grandfather less frequently, she planned by sixth grade to join the military and talked about being on the front lines like him.

When she first met with recruiters in March, she didn't realize the military had only then opened enrollment to women for combat positions and she immediately signed up for the 14-month senior program to enter basic training after graduation.

After she passed her tests and was sworn in, she called her grandfather.

"Guess what?" she asked, breathlessly, knowing he would be proud.

Contact staff writer Joy Lukachick Smith at 423-757-6659 or jsmith@timesfreepress.com. Follow on Twitter @jlukachick.

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