REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -- "The military has been awesome for me," says Chief Warrant Officer 3 Anna Marie Gray of her 17-year career.
Gray is a human resource technician in the Army Contracting Command Human Capital G-1.
Happy with the direction of her career, she plans to attend the Warrant Officer Staff Course so she can be prepared for the promotion board next year.
Gray recollects her first assignment working with a warrant officer she referred to as the go-to-guy and how much she admired him.
"I wanted to be like him. He had all of the answers. So I said to myself that's who I want to be like," said Gray who holds a bachelor's degree in political science and sociology and a master's in liberal studies.
She credits the Army for helping shape her maturity, instilling key values in her that she always tries to live by: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.
"They're all important, but duty is the most important for me. I have a sense of duty not only to my unit and my country, but also to my family," Gray said about her devotion to her sons Jacob, 14, and Jadon, 7. "This is how I provide for them. I always say I do it so my sons won't have to."
Gray believes everyone should abide by the Army's values and even encourages her children to practice these principles.
"The values are a guiding force. I tell my sons to take the hard right over the easy wrong. I stress integrity," said Gray. "Even if it is something they do not want me to know. I want them to always tell me the truth instead of violating their integrity."
Growing up in West Virginia, Gray said her father, a coal miner, worked hard and lived by what she now knows were the same as the Army's values.
"Growing up I already had those values in me at an early age," Gray said. The Army titled and detailed in more depth what these principles should represent for her.
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