When 25-year-old New York Army National Guard 1st Lt. Rebeka “Beki” Eaton, sets out to do something, she makes sure it gets done right.
“I’m a very determined individual,” Eaton says.
That trait helped her succeed as an engineer officer in Somalia, serving in the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry’s Task Force Wolfhound in East Africa in 2022 and 2023, according to Major Brendan Lalor, the 69th Infantry’s operations officer.
This summer that determination earned her the right to wear the Sapper Tab, which marks her as one of the best combat engineers in the Army. The Sapper Tab is the combat engineer equivalent of the Ranger Tab sought by infantrymen.
Even as a new second lieutenant, Eaton impressed the task force staff and commander, Lalor said. So, she and her team were pushed forward to remote operating locations to improve troop accommodations, he added.
Determination also makes her a great company executive officer, said Capt. Dylan Kuhn, her commander in Bravo Company, 152nd Brigade Engineer Battalion.
“Beki is a very motivated leader, and driven leader,” Kuhn said. “She always wants to lead from the front and be the best engineer officer she can be.”
Both men said her determination enabled her to earn the Sapper Tab on June 14 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
Earning it means successfully completing 28 days of education, hands-on work, and demanding physical and leadership challenges in the Sapper Leader Course.
Eaton is now one of four New York National Guard Soldiers entitled to wear the tab on the left shoulder of the uniform. She is also the only woman on that list.
“The school is tough, and the days are long,” said Lt. Col. Nicholas Whaley, the commander of the 204th Engineer Battalion, who is one of the three New York Army Guard Soldiers who wear the tab.
“Students ruck multiple miles daily, carrying their personal, squad, and platoon gear,” he said.
“It requires a high level of physical fitness, but also mental toughness, and academic knowledge in those combat engineer skills,” he added.
“Ultimately,” Whaley said, “those who succeed, are the ones that can make good decisions under stress.”
Eaton tackled the Sapper Leader Course just after returning from East Africa. Things went well until the end of the course, when she learned she hadn’t completed the leadership requirements.
"That was truly disappointing," she said. "Sometimes, things just don’t work out the way we hope for."
“Beki, being a very driven leader, turned that very moment into motivation to go back and earn her Sapper Tab,” Kuhn said.
Eaton returned in 2024 in which she successfully completed the course earning the right to wear the tab.
“Throughout the course you rely heavily on your teammates and this specific group of Soldiers were selfless and worked cohesively leading to high levels of success,” Eaton said.
Going back a second time, “takes a high degree of resilience and motivation,” Whaley said. Eaton has nothing to be embarrassed about, he emphasized.
Eaton, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida native, attended New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, NM. At NMMI, she was able to simultaneously play college volleyball and earn an Army ROTC commission.
The institute awarded her a commission with a two-year degree. It is one of only four schools which can do that.
However, she needed a four-year degree to maintain it, so she went to Syracuse University—which is very military friendly-- and earned a degree in Earth Science and Environment, Sustainability & Policy.
She additionally joined the New York Army National Guard and became an engineer because of the “diversity of opportunities” in the branch, Eaton stated.
“You can go to the construction side, or the combat side,” she explained.
“When I was deployed, I spent a lot of time on the construction side,” she said.
In Somalia she managed Air Force civil engineers and Army engineers and even got a chance for some hands on work with the Soldiers, Eaton said.
But the 152nd is a combat engineer battalion, and she wanted to master those skills, Eaton said.
So, she decided to go to the Sapper Leaders Course.
“I like to see how far I can push myself, but truly the people who have conducted combat engineer missions in actual environments have inspired me,” Eaton said.
Combat engineers blow up bridges, crater roads, breach obstacles, fill ditches, clear minefields, and do all that while also fighting in close combat.
They’re called sappers, according to the Sapper Leader Course website, because their engineer ancestors would dig trenches, called “saps” closer and closer to enemy fortifications to undermine their walls or blow them up.
Since 2004 the Army has recognized Soldiers who make it through the course with the award of the Sapper Tab.
The experience has made her a stronger officer, said Eaton.
She learned a lot from the other Soldiers who made it through the course with her, Eaton explained.
“I think I learned a lot about myself, too,” she said. “You don’t realize how far you’re truly able to push yourself both physically and mentally.”
“I definitely learned how people react in a stressful environment,” she added.
Being the first New York National Guard woman to earn this tab, “is a little bit exciting,” she said. It’s good to make a little piece of history, Eaton added.
Her next goals are to be a company commander, Eaton said. However, she said her immediate goal is to make sure she’s a good officer.
“I want to make sure that when my Soldiers come to drill, we provide them with the best training possible,” Eaton said.
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