Former Miss Rhode Island completes leadership training on Fort Sill, encourages women to enlist

FORT SILL, Okla. (TNN) - A group of Second Lieutenants is finishing up the Basic Officer Leader Course on Fort Sill and among them is a former Miss Rhode Island.

This week was the final training exercise for people across the country who have spent the last nearly five months on Fort Sill.

“Everything they’ve learned over the last 18 weeks they’re putting together and seeing how it all goes together in the big picture scheme of things. They are going to be the leaders of young soldiers and right now they’re doing first-hand experience of what their soldiers are going to be doing in the field so for them to understand the hard work it takes to get the mission done, it’s great for them,” said Sergeant 1st Class Marvin McBride.

Among those going through the training is Second Lieutenant Alexandra Curtis, who was Miss Rhode Island in 2015 before deciding on a career change.

“My whole message as Miss Rhode Island was getting women into different fields where they’ve been under represented and getting women into leadership positions. It shows women across the world they can do anything they want to do. A lot of people said field artillery is going to be rough, especially as a female, but I said I’m up to the challenge. That’s the kind of spirit I took with me as Miss Rhode Island and that’s the kind of spirit I have with me in the Army,” Curtis said.

On Monday, Curtis will be taking what she’s learned back to Rhode Island. She says she hopes sharing her experience can help encourage other women to look into a military career.

“Especially with all combat roles being open to women, we want to know and show that we have females who are leading these troops. We welcome them into our ranks and definitely do the job. Of course, we don’t want to be missing out on half the talent of our entire population so we welcome women into these roles and I’m very excited to be the first woman going into field artillery in Rhode Island,” Curtis said.

Copyright 2020 Texoma News Network. All rights reserved.