Editors note: This story first appeared in The Messenger on Oct 30, 2021.

When Susan M. Olson enlisted in the Army, she was looking for opportunities that just didn’t seem to be available around her hometown of Thor.

The Fort Dodge woman found those opportunities, and the result was a 26 year career in the Army and the Army Reserve. She retired in 1999 with the rank of master sergeant. At that time she was the unit administrator for an Army Reserve company in Fort Dodge.

“I’m glad I did it,” she said.

“The most rewarding part of my career was when I could help the individual soldier with an issue,” she said. “Maybe get their payroll sorted out or help them with their uniform, get all their ribbons in the correct order.”

She also appreciated all the places she got to see during her career. She visited castles and cathedrals in Europe and sailed down the Rhine River in Germany. While stationed in San Francisco, she had a room with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Olson’s family has a tradition of military service. Her grandfather, Carl Olson, served in the Army in World War I. Her father and an aunt were in the Navy. An uncle served in the Army.

She graduated from Eagle Grove High School and enlisted in the Army in September 1972.

She was sent to Fort McClellan. Alabama, for basic training.

Basic training for women at that time was much different than it is today. Olson recalled that there was no running and no training on firearms. She said the women all wore skirts as part of their regular uniforms.

She recalled that during the ceremony which marked their graduation from basic training, the soldiers all sang “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy.

Olson then went to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for advanced individual training as a clerk/typist.

Although she was an Army soldier, her first assignment after completing her training was at Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. She was assigned to an air defense artillery unit that operated a number of Nike missile installations, with its administrative personnel stationed at the Air Force base.

While there, she took her first ride on a helicopter.

“I was 18,” she said. “It was pretty cool.”

Assignments to Hanau in the former West Germany and The Presidio in San Francisco, California, followed.

Olson said The Presidio was her favorite base. There, she maintained personnel records for Army recruiters. Her barracks window faced the Golden Gate Bridge. She celebrated her 21st birthday with a party on Bakers Beach in San Francisco.

The Army next sent her to Vincenza, Italy, and finally, Fort Knox, Kentucky.

While based at Fort Knox, she was sent to Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, in 1981 to help with some Cuban refugees who were being temporarily housed there.

“The way I heard it, Castro emptied his prisons and people were put on boats with nothing,” Olson said.

She was there for four months, handling administrative work related to the refugee mission. She received the Humanitarian Service Medal for her work there.

That would be one of her last assignments in the active duty Army, as she transitioned to the Army Reserve that

year.

She started with an Army Reserve unit in St. Louis, Missouri. In October 1982, she became the unit administrator for an Army Reserve school in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Later, she was the personnel staff non-commissioned officer for the 302nd Maintenance Battalion, also in St. Paul.

In 1992, she became the unit administrator for the 875th Replacement Co. in Fort Dodge. That was the position she retired from in 1999.