FORT SILL, Okla. — The first female field artillery instructor is serving at the Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill.
Staff Sgt. Elena Bryan, a 13 Mike, Military Occupation Specialist, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, Advanced Individual Training Instructor, Army 1st Battalion 78 Field Artillery, Alpha Battery, is the first female instructor certified in the field artillery school’s history.
Bryan instructs two classes of 24 Soldiers, teaching them gear functional responsibilities, vehicle assignments and the basics of field artillery.
Bryan’s chance to make an impact on her Soldiers motivates her to work harder.
“I do my job every day,” Bryan said. “As best as I can, because there's going to be that one male or female Soldier that looks at me and says, ‘if she can do it, I can do it too’.”
Bryan’s motivation for becoming a field artillery instructor is to make a path for female Soldiers to advance into leadership positions.
“I want to be an instructor,” Bryan said. “I want to be the first, I want to do this for females coming into the 13M world and know they have a path to follow.”
Bryan’s nearly nine years of service have taught her to be a positive role model for Soldiers to look up to and trust in confidence.
“The interaction with the Soldiers is so important,” Bryan said. “I can teach them my job, - everything I have learned from E1 to E6 – and now they will be able to do their jobs from E1 to E6."
Bryan trusts her leaders, Capt. Hailey Lui and Staff Sgt. Steven Tiborsky, to support her growth.
“The people I work with really support me,” Bryan said. “My school chief Tiborsky, has been the backbone of me becoming an instructor. I knew him previous to this and we work well together. That's what keeps me grounded, someone like him who has a year and a half experience on me, and I get to learn from somebody that I know and trust.”
Bryan became a field artillery instructor in May of 2022, and is one of the first females to instruct Soldiers to fire the M270 Alpha rockets at Fort Sill.
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