PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. (March 4, 2015) -- Mary Krisanda started her journey as a contract specialist with the Army Contracting Command at Picatinny Arsenal in November 2003.
Krisanda has been married for nearly 46 years and has two adult children and one grandson. She tried to go back into the military when terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001 but was turned away because of her age.
Rewind her life's story to more than 50 years ago, when Krisanda served in the Women's Army Corp during the Vietnam War from 1968-1970.
"It was a privilege to serve my country," she said. "My grandfather and father served in the Army and Navy during World War 11, so I carried on the family tradition and enlisted."
"I was 20 years old and volunteered. They did not draft women. I wanted to carry on the tradition of my family to serve in the military."
One of three adopted children, Krisanda was in her second year of college when she won a scholarship for one year. However, she said not continue because her family had no extra funds to help further her education. She decided to enlist in the military.
"My sister and brother had muscular dystrophy and unable to serve," she said. "I was partially sighted due to premature birth at just one pound, eight ounces that took part of my sight. I tried every branch of the service and was turned down because of the visual loss, but someone at the Army recruiting station said they could get me in and they did. That made my dad very proud," she said.
Krisanda set off basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, on March 7, 1968. She would then begin her medical training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, learning to become a medical corpsman. Later duty stations were at the Walson Army Hospital in Fort Dix, New Jersey and the Valley Forge Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
"My primary responsibilities were to take care of the men on the medical/surgical ward," Krisanda said.
"The men had terrible injuries, many amputees and head injuries. It was difficult to see men at 18 years of age being injured so badly."
Some of the wounded begged the medical staff to let them die, Krisanda recalled.
"But instead we held hands, gave them the best medical care at the time, and gave them support when many of their loved ones gave up and left them," she remembered.
"I was affected by what I saw and handled in the hospital, so much so that I have panic attacks if I enter one to have any procedure. I still see the images in my head."
At Fort Dix, she earned the rank of Specialist (E-5) and married her husband. Upon reenlistment, she was transferred to Valley Forge.
"I had rotational duty and worked all phases of the hospital from the emergency room, to the morgue, maternity ward, pediatrics, psychiatric ward, and the medical/surgical ward where I took care of the men who returned from Vietnam via Japan and or Germany to come home to heal," she said.
Unfortunately, she did not finish her licensed practical nurse training due to complications during a pregnancy. In 1970, Krisanda and was honorably discharged.
She then worked as a lock box clerk in Somerset, New Jersey, and later was hired as a reports clerk and promoted to an administrative assistant at AT&T until she retired in March 2003. During that time Krisanda was able to earn her bachelor's degree, the very same degree she was pursuing almost 40 years earlier.
After the 9/11 attacks, when Krisanda was told she was too old to reenlist, she then turned to the Army Contract Command at Picatinny, deciding that was the place from the home front to help Soldiers. She continues to work at the command to this day.
Related Links:
U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) homepage
Army partners with Vietnam War Commemoration
Army launches start of 50th Anniversary Commemoration of Vietnam War
U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) homepage
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