J’ca-born US army Captain ‘leading in a man’s world’

IT HAS not always been easy for Captain Betty-Ann Nicole Burnett, a Jamaica-born US army captain, to lead in a ‘man’s world’.

The 48-year-old migrated from her hometown of Mile Gully, Manchester, just four days before reaching the age of 18 and has spent most of her adult life in the US armed forces.

Being among the minority, Burnett said, during an interview with The Gleaner yesterday, that it has been challenging for her working in a position of authority as a woman because many individuals still believed the army to be exclusively suitable for men.

“I am a black female in a predominantly male role, so I have to go harder than everybody else ... . I make sure that I take all of the military training that is needed because when you show up, you are already at a disadvantage when you are a woman,” she explained.

Burnett serves as an active guard reserve where she must undergo two physical fitness tests (PFTs) twice per year. As a logistics and operations training officer in charge of 620 military personnel in the 77th combat sustainment support battalion, Burnett said it was necessary for her to find constructive coping mechanisms, such as vacation travels to visit family in other US states, or back home in Jamaica; spend time preparing meals in the kitchen; being engaged in less strenuous physical activities; and shopping as a means of recharging and resetting her mind and emotional state before returning to work on a Monday morning.

Noting that while in the Caribbean, people often disregard the benefits of seeing a therapist -– not viewing it as an acceptable option for dealing with mental and emotional challenges – Burnett is advocating for more people to converse with ‘strangers’ as the cure to the soul as therapists offer a non-biased view.

“I believe in it wholeheartedly. I had to adapt to it 10 years in because I wanted to talk to someone who was outside of that bubble I was in and [to] someone who was an expert,” she explained, adding that she often began her workday at 7 a.m. and would finish as late as 11 p.m.

BENEFITS OF THERAPY

Burnett encouraged individuals working in the field, both locally and internationally, to consider embracing therapy because it can help prevent suicide impulses. She described therapy as being better than any medication.

“Having a healthy conversation with someone rather than just getting medicated just to numb whatever you’re feeling is just better,” she said.

“The (US) military has made it better in the last couple of years whereas before when you were [going to therapy], you would have to hide in the closet, so to speak. Now, they’re promoting it more,” she said, recalling days gone by when receiving mental-health care was associated with being “weak”.

Burnett – the first of three children for mother Sandra Swaby and the only child for her father, Trevor Burnett – describes herself as a ‘bare foot country girl’, who has been blessed enough to make something of her life.

She added that having her family in her corner has also helped her to stay motivated “because I know that they are proud of what I’m doing”.

She first enlisted in the army after following a friend who was interested. However, her friend failed the test while she did not.

Burnett would later spend eight years in the army on a part-time basis.

Taking a break from the profession, Burnett spent 10 years in the corporate world, where she got married and utilised her master’s degree in business administration from DeVry University in Naperville, Illinois, by working as an accounting manager.

PASSION FOR LEADERSHIP

She would later get divorced and eventually return to the army and has been there ever since due to the passion she has for leadership, a quality she has had since childhood. Burnett, over the course of her time spent in the armed forces, has been awarded a meritorious service medal, four army commendation medals, and three army achievement medals.

She is currently serving in Puerto Rico, where she has been for two years and four months. She has eight months left of her three-year tenure before she is transferred to another location.

Some of her other destinations include serving in Atlanta, Georgia, and Germany.

As a training officer, Burnett can work in the army until age 60.

“When I first came into the army the slogan was ‘be all that you could be’, and I just took that to heart and embraced it,” she said, adding that military service, though unfamiliar territory at first, has been a “way out” for her to provide not only for herself, but for her family as well.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com