FORT MEADE, Md. (Army News Service) -- Within two months of graduating from Officer Candidate School, 2nd Lt. Danielle Salley led her team in a fight against the Chinese.
It was a battle against Chinese female athletes as Team USA beat China, 73 to 56, in the World Military Women's Basketball Championship, July 27, at Camp Pendleton, California. Salley was the center for the U.S. Armed Forces team.
She grabbed 10 rebounds against China, despite being elbowed above the eye when going up for one, receiving a wound that would need three stitches.
"I ended up coming down with that rebound, though," Salley said, and she kept on playing. "I'll do anything I can to help the team."
She scored 32 points in the tournament, which included games against France, Canada, Germany and Brazil. Salley's mother, Debra Mitchell Ward from Milwaukee, was there watching her daughter at the fieldhouse.
"She's my biggest fan," Salley said.
MILWAUKEE REBOUND
Salley grew up in a Milwaukee inner city neighborhood where there was always a strong sense of community, she said.
"Crime was always around, drugs were always around, but we were able to manage. It didn't interfere with our way of life," she said.
She came from a single-parent home and, being the oldest of four kids, she felt it was her duty to protect her siblings. She wanted to be a police officer then, like her mother, who is now retired from the Milwaukee Police Force. But she also wanted to be a dancer and a singer.
"When we had family gatherings, we had music playing, and we danced to see who had the most rhythm," she said.
As a girl, she sang in the youth choir at church. She still sings in the car, she said. Rhythm and blues, along with gospel music are her favorites. But her favorite song is Vivian Green's "Get Right Back to Your Baby."
After high school, Salley attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in African-American Studies with a focus on literature and women's studies. At 6-foot-4, she played basketball for the Badgers from 2004 to 2008.
She wanted to be a guidance counselor, so she volunteered, coached and mentored young women.
"I told them straight up how it was," she said, "how college was, how it was growing up in the neighborhood I come from, being the oldest of four, being raised in a single-parent home; and just let [them] know … they can do the same thing as well."
Upon her graduation in 2009, she entered the job market when the U.S. was in the midst of the Great Recession.
"I had two degrees and I couldn't get a job," she said.
Wanting to help support her family, she enlisted in the Army and became a signal support specialist. She eventually qualified for the All-Army basketball team.
Her last assignment before attending OCS was with the 20th Engineer Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
She attended the 75th anniversary class of OCS at Fort Benning. Today she considers graduating from OCS as one of the landmark achievements of her career.
"It's something I always wanted to do," she said. "I almost thought I would never be an officer, but I made it."
ARMY VALUES
Strength and sincerity are virtues that Salley embraces. Personal courage, though, is what she considers the most important Army value.
"I do everything true to heart," she said. "That includes stepping up and helping somebody when they need it and not being afraid."
It also means giving an honest opinion, regardless of consequence. As a noncommissioned officer, that might include respectfully telling an officer, "it's not going to work that way" and suggesting another idea, she said. "That's personal courage."
Salley served in the Army for more than four years before attending OCS. She will attend the Officer Basic Course next month at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to be a field artillery officer. Her next assignment will be in Korea, where she hopes to serve as a platoon leader.
Among her hobbies are crocheting, designing clothes and roller-skating. Roller rinks are her "comfort zone," she said.
"It's an awesome atmosphere," she declared. "Just you and the skates on the floor."
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