Voices of Veterans: Sergeant Adrianne Coward shares Her Story of Service in the U.S. Army During the Cold War
AUSTIN, Texas— Today, Texas Land Commissioner and Veterans Land Board (VLB) Chairwoman Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is proud to introduce the next installment of the series highlighting the VLB's Voices of Veterans Oral History Program. This week, we highlight the service of Sergeant (Sgt.)Adrianne Coward who served in the United States Army during the Cold War.
Born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1962, Coward said when she graduated in 1980, she didn't know what was next. She "went to college for a little bit" but that didn't work out for her. Wanting to get out of Florida, she said "the military came to my brain" and from there, she made the decision to join.
"I thought that if I join the military, I could get out of Florida and find some direction for my life and that's what I did," she said. "I chose the Army because the Air Force had a waiting list. I didn't want to wait."
To listen to Sgt. Adrianne Coward's full interview, click the image below:
Are you a Texas Veteran interested in sharing your story of service? Click this link to learn more about recording your Voices of Veterans story.
Coward said she was the first "in her immediate family" to enlist in the military and while her dad found it humorous, her mother did not support her decision. She didn't let any of that sway here decision, however, leaving for boot camp in 1982.
"It wasn't anything crazy or anything other than getting used to the running that we had to do," Sgt. Coward said about boot camp. "I was athletic, but I wasn't used to getting up at dark-thirty and immediately going on two to three mile runs. Getting up so early and rushing into formation, that was all a shocker, but once I got the hang of it, I just fell right into it."
Following boot camp, Sgt. Coward said she was sent to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in Aurora, Colorado. She said the Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) she was assigned was to be an Optical Laboratory Specialist (OLS), an occupation charged with making eyeglasses for soldiers.
"I always knew from a young age that I wanted to be a nurse and so I asked the recruiter if they had anything medical, like nursing, in the military and he told me 'No, there are no nursing jobs in the military,'" she explained. "I didn't know that and so I told him I wanted to do something medical, and he told me making eyeglasses is all he had [...] so that's what I took and how I ended up with that job."
Sgt. Coward learned later that wasn't true at all and said she "was so upset" when she learned she could have been an Licensed Nurse Practitioner (LPN), adding that it wasn't the first time she was lied to by the recruiter.
Following Colorado, she said she was sent to Fort Rucker as her first duty station but was told when she arrived that "there were no open spots for her profession." Fort Rucker had room for one OLS and the person who took that position "arrived 15 minutes earlier" and so the position was filled. Confused, Sgt. Coward spent the next four months at Fort Rucker with nothing to do as she waited for her next duty station.
Sgt. Coward said she asked to be sent somewhere "close to Fort Lauderdale" so she could continue her military career doing what she was trained for or she planned to leave the military altogether. The closest she could get to Florida was Fort Jackson in South Carolina and she headed there in August 1983 where she would stay for the next five years.
"They had an optical lab there and I did my job, I worked there, and I was the only female," she explained about working at Fort Jackson, adding she also worked side-by-side with civilians.
Following her five years at Fort Jackson, Sgt. Coward said she went to Germany and continued as an OLS while stationed there. She said she "loved Germany" and she "didn't want to come back" to the United States after three years. She did come back after "re-enlisting" and said she was "determined to get into the 91 Charlie program, which was the LVN program or the bootstrap program."
Sgt. Coward said when she re-enlisted, she was sent to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio where she was supposed to enroll in respiratory therapy school. After arriving at Fort Sam Houston, she learned she was not eligible to attend the classes because she lacked the training needed. She said she "twiddled my thumbs" for three months before she learned there was an "optical lab at Fort Sam" and she eventually started working there, continuing what she was doing in Germany but now stateside.
To listen to Sgt. Adrianne Coward tell her story, click the button below:
RELATED: Voices of Veterans: Maj. Rosa Kissling Shares Her Story of Her Service in the U.S. Air Force
Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.
Voices of Veterans is a state agency's first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.
The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.
Veterans' interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans' sacrifices.
To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO's Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:
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Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.
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