Army nurse continues family tradition

By Sgt. 1st Class Clinton WoodMay 1, 2015

Nurse continues family tradition
1 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Andreas J. McGhee, equal opportunity program manager, Army Reserve 84th Training Command, Fort Knox, Ky., shares a moment with his daughter, 1st Lt. Andria Kimberly, an Army Reservist with the 801st Combat Support Hospital, Indianapolis, at ... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL
Nurse continues family tradition
2 / 2 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Lt. Col. Andreas J. McGhee, an Army Reserve equal opportunity program manager, 84th Training Command, Fort Knox, Ky., and his daughter, 1st Lt. Andria Kimberly, an Army Reservist with the 801st Combat Support Hospital, Indianapolis, wait to congratul... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT KNOX, Ky. (April 29, 2015) -- The daughter of a combat veteran and Army Reserve officer was given a few options when it came to living with her parents after graduating from high school with no immediate plans of attending college.

Lt. Col. Andreas McGhee, and his wife, Lisa, had pride bestowed on their Family with her decision.

Her exact words were "sign me up," McGhee said. "Of course I naturally took her up on the challenge."

With those three words, 1st Lt. Andria Kimberly became the third generation of the McGhee family to carry on the Army tradition.

Kimberly, a married mother of two children, is an Army Reservist, serving as a nurse with the 801st Combat Support Hospital in Indianapolis. McGhee, who will retire in May 2016, with more than 30 years of military service, is the equal opportunity program manager for the Army Reserve's 84th Training Command on Fort Knox, Kentucky.

McGhee's late father, Jaymon A. McGhee, was drafted into the Army in 1956 as an infantryman, and retired in 1976, as a sergeant first class. He served during the Vietnam War, from 1968 until 1969, with the 4th Infantry Division on Pleiku Air Base, Vietnam.

"My daughter is simply amazing and her Army experience helped mold her to become this self-reliant and confident person, who has this can-do attitude," said McGhee, who joined the Army as a medium helicopter repairman. "Her accomplishments speak for themselves but mostly I have the honor of serving with her and being her father."

McGhee was referring to his daughter being a former registered nurse and an Army nurse.

"I feel beyond proud to serve with my father," said Kimberly, who is a clinical liaison for Kindred Hospital in the southern Indiana region.

Kimberly's time in the Army Reserve began the day after she told her parents to "sign me up."

"I attended Army functions when I was younger but I did not fully understand the sacrifice my father was making on a daily basis," she said.

"I asked my friend, retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Judith Hults, to escort Andria to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Indianapolis," McGhee said.

A few hours later, he received a call to witness his daughter's swearing-in ceremony, said McGhee, whose father joined him at the ceremony.

"We were like 'wow,' we couldn't believe it," said McGhee of he and his father's feelings at the ceremony. "I thought that Kimberly would join the active-duty Army but she told me she wanted to join the Reserve."

Kimberly told him later the main reason she chose the Reserve was to assist in paying for her tuition assistance to attend Marian University in Indianapolis, he said.

The reason that she chose the military occupational specialty of human resources specialist was because McGhee said it was her best choice, she said.

She attended basic training and advanced individual training on Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

McGhee attended Kimberly's graduation ceremony unannounced.

"My pride and tears welled up when I saw her standing there during her final formation at basic training," said McGhee, an Operation Iraqi Freedom and Desert Storm veteran. "My daughter was truly transformed into a new being, who took ownership of her actions and also took pride in the things she accomplished thereafter."

"I presented Kimberly's drill sergeants with my challenge coins," said McGhee, who has more than 27 years as a Reserve officer. "Because they were instrumental in reshaping her physically and mentally and turned her into a fine Soldier."

Kimberly was able to hone these skills as an enlisted Soldier for the next six years. At the same time, she became a certified nursing assistant at a local hospital.

"After being with the military for six years, it became a part of who I was," she said.

Being a certified nursing assistant, on the other hand, was not "a part of what she was."

"After working hard for little pay, I decided to go back to school to become a registered nurse," Kimberly said.

"I decided to accept a direct commission after I received my Bachelor of Science in nursing degree from Marian University," she said. "I have always loved connecting with people and I enjoy learning about the human anatomy. Nursing is a great career with dynamic opportunities."

Kimberly's direct commission also made her eligible for a $50,000 student loan repayment program. Joining the Reserve had originally paid a portion of her tuition assistance.

Marian University is an expensive private school and the student loan repayment program greatly assisted, she said. The best military experience she received was her Basic Officers Leadership Course on Fort Sam Houston, Texas, she said.

"There we learned how our medical experience and job would function in a war-time setting," Kimberly said. "It was there that I felt extremely proud of my decision to join the medical team."

She said her background has mostly been as an intensive care unit, or ICU, nurse but she has "thoroughly" enjoyed working there. However, she wanted to take a break from it.

Now, she is responsible for marketing to hospitals and physicians and assessing patients, who are requiring short-term rehabilitation.

If there ever is a need for her to tell the world about Family pride, she could set the example.

"I could not ask for a more genuine father," said Kimberly, who will mark her third-year as a Reserve officer in May. "I am humbled that God would bless me with such a great dad."

Related Links:

Army.mil: Human Interest News

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