The SA was my life...

Part two

I entered the Training College at 1771 Andrews Avenue, NY, at the age of 18. To say I did so with trepidation would be very much an understatement. Frankly, I couldn't believe I had made it. My memory is fading but I remember that it was some experience. If one made it through “training” physically, you were a survivor. The schedule and regiment were strenuous to say the least. My experience as a single woman cadet was not easy. Married couples had each other for support. And once in the field, the challenges, demands and difficulties only increased. Almost all of the single women in my session resigned their commission in due course. I was dedicated to the Army's mission, however, I don't believe “training” prepared me enough for the challenges I would face in the “field”. One needs to remember that “training” consisted of basically 18 months of class room learning, a summer appointment, two “spring assignments", followed by commissioning. I was young, inexperienced, but I knew the army. I was dedicated, healthy and willing. However, those characteristics alone weren’t enough. I needed the support of other officers, and it simply wasn’t there. I, along with others, developed a survival mentality. I didn't realize it right away, but recognized it as the months rolled by. And it was this same mentality and lack of support that caused so many of my session comrades to leave the ranks. I read my “Reunion news” at ten, twenty five and forty years, and few single, and married couples for that matter, were faithful to the call. There had to be reasons...

I had six appointments in five years. I was asked and expected to perform tasks for which I was both ill prepared and untrained. Nonetheless, I did whatever was asked of me willingly. However, I also came to realize that not only was I expected to carry out the duties assigned to me, but those of others as well. The single woman officer was the equivalent of what we termed nuns to be; slaves of the Catholic Church. As an example, there was a city code in New York City that stated if a building didn't have air-conditioning, and the temperature reached a certain degree, then the employees could be excused and go home. However, the rule didn’t apply to officers. It simply meant that the officers had to pick up the slack and fill in for the non-officer employees. There were other such “rights”, and I witnessed employees being treated better than officers; they were treated with more dignity than we as officers were.

It was during my five-year review that I was put on probation.

I left on a Saturday morning. My brother picked me up and took me to his quarters. I had a job lined up working at a SA residence but received a call from the Major in charge two weeks before my starting date and was informed that an officer was being sent to fill that position. That weekend was the worst three days of my life. I walked out the door of The SA and my calling, mission and passion closed behind me. I entered a very different world; all I knew since the age of three was The Salvation Army. Our family’s and my life revolved around the Army. I wanted desperately to remain involved, a part of the only life I knew, and thought I could find a corps and become a local officer but was told instead to burn my bridges. I found myself very much alone in New York City.

Part Two