WIESBADEN, Germany (Sept. 23, 2011) -- "Many Backgrounds, Many Stories, One American Spirit" was the theme of Hispanic American Heritage Month at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield.
5th Signal Command's 2nd Signal Brigade hosted a celebration event at the WAAF Fitness Center that welcomed the entire Wiesbaden military community.
2nd Signal's Capt. Laiza Correa and her mother Lavinia Davila were representing Puerto Rico at the event and shared their story and culture to the guests in attendance.
Correa grew up in central Puerto Rico in a city called Caguas. When she was 16 she had aspirations of becoming a gymnast, but with a bad back she had to change her course in life.
"Growing up, my mother was in the Puerto Rican National Guard as a dietician and in the Army Reserves, so when I got to college I started asking her questions about the Army and I got interested. So I decided to join ROTC and that's where my Army journey began," said Correa.
"The funny thing is I tried to convince my other kids to join the Army but none of them wanted to," said Correa's mother. "Laiza is the one who came to me about it, so I am very happy that she wanted to do it on her own."
Correa went on to obtain her Bachelor's Degree in Applied Kinesiology with the hope of becoming an Army physical therapist.
But when it came closer to receiving her commission, Correa had another change of heart and wanted to join Combat Arms.
"I wanted to go into Combat Arms because I said, 'I'm in the Army, so I want to be tough,'" she declared. Correa said that this feeling is part of her heritage growing up.
"Living in Puerto Rico, you have to be tough are not supposed to cry. It's a very cultural thing. As a female Hispanic, you feel you need to try even harder to excel and prove yourself. "
After finishing up her studies and ROTC at the University of Florida, she chose to go active duty. The Army decided that she was to be a signal officer. She still yearned to be in combat arms and luckily she was temporarily branch detailed into Air Defense Artillery to get that "tough" experience she was looking for.
Fast forwarding, Correa is now the current operations officer of 2nd Signal Brigade in Wiesbaden. When the time came around to organize an event for Hispanic American Heritage Month, she went directly to the brigade's equal opportunity officer and said, "use me."
"I knew I wanted to be a part of HAHM and volunteer because I'm very proud of my culture," she said. "It was interesting to see all the other volunteers from different Hispanic cultures come together and try to make this event a success."
Correa's mother said the event reminded her of how much Hispanics have had to struggle to succeed and how proud she is of how far society has come.
"I couldn't join the Army until I was in my thirties, because in my day women weren't allowed to serve," Davila said.
"I was so proud of how well the event went," said Correa who served authentic Puerto Rican coquito eggnog and flan with her mother. "The EO officer did a great job of allowing all the different countries come together and agree on the sequence of events."
With Correa coming to the end of her active duty career, she still wants to proudly serve the military as a government civilian.
"The Army enhanced my leadership skills and a lot of it is about taking care of people," Correa said. "It fits right in to being Puerto Rican because we're very hospitable, so I want to continue to serve in the military culture that allows me to use and express that."
Correa said that it's important to celebrate diversity in the military because it allows everyone to know where each person is coming from.
"They say that America is a melting pot, but I like to think of it as a chef salad," said Correa. "That way you see all of our colors and diversities separately, but at the same time it makes a really nice mix."
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