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When Massachusetts National Guard Army Maj. Molly Alesch spoke at her promotion ceremony
at Hanscom Air Force Base, MA ... she recalled that her father, too, had served in the Army.
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March 17, 2017 - Iowa Army National Guard Maj. Jill Finkel, left, pins a new gold leaf rank insignia on Massachusetts Army National Guard Maj. Molly Alesch during her promotion ceremony at Hanscom
Air Force Base, MA. Finkel and Alesch are sisters and their youngest sister, Army Spc. Kristen Alesch, who serves in the Tennessee National Guard, also attended the promotion ceremony.
(Massachusetts Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes)
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However, when it came to her inspiration to serve she turned to
the audience, where her sister, Army Maj. Jill Finkel of the Iowa
National Guard, beamed with pride. Later she playfully described a
call with her youngest sister, who asked how her ceremony was "going
to go down."
Army Spc. Kristen Alesch, who serves in the
Tennessee National Guard, was curious as she hasn't seen many
officer promotions ceremonies yet in her military career.
Proud Father
"It's an honor to me to have the three of them
serve. It gives me a sense of pride, I readily put that out there …
brag about it, I guess," said their father, Thomas Alesch.
"I
think that every person, male or female, should serve their
country," he said.
He said the first of his daughters to join
the service was Finkel, his eldest daughter.
"I needed help
from somewhere; I was without a lot of resources and it turned out
that the Army was the place for me," she said. She found that help
after enlisting in the Iowa National Guard, then went on to earn her
law degree from Drake University, and now works full time as a
federally recognized Judge Advocate General officer in the Iowa
Guard's Active Guard Reserve program.
Molly joined Finkel at
Drake University, where she saw her sister wearing the uniform and
paying her own way through college. She was inspired to join the
National Guard's Simultaneous Membership Program, a program that
allowed her to be a member of the Iowa National Guard while
completing her bachelor's degree.
"When Molly told me she was
going to do it, I was all for it," Finkel said.
After this,
Molly completed a three-year tour on active duty, and then took a
break in service.
Desire to Serve
But, she said,
civilian life didn't quite suit her.
"When I went to grad
school, I was with people who were freaking out about assignments
and completing grad school, in general," Molly said. "I'm thinking
that is nothing. People are dying overseas; I'm used to being with
soldiers who have real stuff to worry about. I missed it." She found
a home in the Massachusetts National Guard, first as an education
officer and now as the state's Sexual Assault and Response
Prevention coordinator.
Finkel served in Afghanistan from
2010-2011. Molly served in Iraq from 2005-2006.
When their
"baby sister" Kristen graduated from basic training, Molly spoke
about attending the ceremony with pride, but not without concern.
She is the first of the three to have joined after 9/11.
"She
is an 88M [Motor Transport Operator], and I know, because I am a
logistics officer, that a lot of 88M's are on the road and they're
always in the action," Molly said.
Kristen, being a decade
younger than her older sisters, hasn't yet deployed. But Jill is
confident that it won't be an issue for the youngest of these
sisters in service.
"It's a little bit blown out of
proportion, with women in the military, ‘Can they be in war? can
they not?’ It's a person issue, not a gender issue," Finkel said.
"It really shouldn't be surprising that three strong women want to
serve their country."
By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Hughes, Massachusetts National Guard
DOD News
Copyright 2017
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