Video: From Soldier to Mother

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THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss. (WCBI)-As more women in the military continue to climb higher in ranks they are also finding ways to balance their careers along with motherhood.

Just twenty years ago it was rare to see a woman holding a high ranking position in the military.

For Captain Krishina Turnipseed, the company commander at 155th BSTB for the Army National Guard, overseeing 46 soldiers can be challenging and rewarding.

“Some people do like to see women in positions and you have some that don’t, but that’s my job and I put in 110 percent and I expect them to give me a 110 percent,” says Krishina Turnipseed.

Turnipseed says transitioning from Captain to mother and wife was difficult after a year deployment in Iraq.

“I can say it was a little hardship on them because I was already gone for a year and then left for another five months so it was pretty hard. It took about almost a year to get back on track and get things together, but overall it was a great experience,” says Turnipseed.

In the past 13 years of her career, Turnipseed says she looks to other women who work hard to move up in ranks to give her the determination to do the same.

“I’ve seen more military female officers in higher ranking positions so that gives me the motivation drive to go far as I can in rank. Some training they do not allow women to do. I see women still trying to thrive and try to get in those positions and show that we can do just as a man can do,” says Turnipseed.

“Women in the military in general are limited numbers compared to the men, but as time has gone by they’ve made other things available for women that they didn’t have before accommodating mothers for instance,” says Jessica Rainey.

Jessica Rainy served as an Air Traffic Controller in the United States Air Force for 6 years.

She decided to Resign as a non-commissioned officer after becoming a mother.

“When I became a mother we were in Japan so I had my children away from family, very far away not just a state or two away where my parents could come and visit. And then the other part of it was both of us being military in a foreign country and having children you have to plan for, you signed on that dotted line you can be deployed at any time,” says Rainey.

If your daughter came to you and told you she wanted to join the military what would you say?

“I see what I went through being away from my family so there is a little bit of a mix feelings, but as far as giving her the opportunities and experiences of a lifetime that I look back on. People who have stayed in my home town for a long time and haven’t experienced anything like what I have just in a couple of years and literally I’m set up for success for the rest of my life,” says Rainey.

The Pentagon recently announced that women will soon be filling frontline combat positions as a part of U.S. Special forces.