When she was growing up, her family always dressed for dinner, so it was only natural for her to report for her first day in the Army in her best clothes.
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The soldier working the desk looked at her in her white suit and gave her a look like “really?” Alice realizes now she must have looked like Goldie Hawn in the 1980 movie Private Benjamin, but at the time, she really didn’t know what to expect. With her suitcase and briefcase in hand, she found the recruit reception station and produced a copy of her orders directing her to report for boot camp at Fort McClellan. As she got off the train, she remembers it being “as hot as Hades”. All she had been told prior to departure was to take enough clothes for seven days, so she wore a white linen suit and black pumps to report in for duty, and carried a pants suit, a dress for church on Sunday, and several other outfits in her suitcase. Map showing the location of Fort McClellan, AlabamaĪfter signing paperwork in Baltimore and being sworn-in, Alice boarded a train to Anniston, Alabama, the home of Fort McClellan. Although pursuing that course entailed attending a school for a year to learn the trade, the opportunity was too good to pass up and Alice accepted the Army’s offer. The Army, however, could take her right away and even dangled a $20,000 bonus in front of her if she agreed to become a missile repair technician. She wanted to go Navy, but even though she’d done very well on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, the Navy had no slots for women available until at least September of that year. After getting by for a couple of years, she decided to give the military a try.Īlice went to the recruiter’s office to enlist in June of 1985.
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Alice didn’t know how to tell her mother Towson wasn’t right for her, so she moved out of her mother’s house in the spring of 1983 and, at nineteen years old, tried to make it on her own.
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This time she didn’t do well because Towson was not what she wanted-it was what her mother wanted. Still, she made the best of the situation and was excited about her future when she graduated in June of 1982.Īfter graduation, Alice enrolled in Towson University, located eight miles north of Baltimore. When her parents separated toward the end of her high school years, it added to her stress. Those factors made Alice’s life experience different. In contrast, many of her fellow students were Catholic and had attended Catholic grade and middle schools. Not only was she one of the few African-American students enrolled, but she was also raised Baptist and came from a public school background. citizen to be canonized as a saint.Īlthough Alice enjoyed her high school years and credits Seton High with preparing her to deal with the challenges she would soon face, she felt like a fish out of water. When it came time for high school, her parents sent her to Elizabeth Ann Seton High School, a private Catholic school for girls named after the first U.S. Her mom was a counselor in the Baltimore City Public Schools, which Alice attended during her elementary and middle school years. He also took her horseback riding and ice skating, and she looked up to him and valued his guidance. Her dad, who was a civil engineer, often took her to Baltimore Orioles games at the nearby stadium, passing on his love of baseball to Alice. She was the oldest of four children and the only girl, so her father doted on her and they were very close.
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This is her story.Īlice was born and raised in the Ednor Gardens-Lakeside community of northeast Baltimore, Maryland, a middle-class neighborhood just a few blocks from where Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium used to stand. Because of Alice, our communities are safer and better prepared to take care of the needs of our military families. At each step of her career, she’s learned and employed new skills to allow her to take her work to the next level. From working with the families of deployed soldiers, to giving victims and witnesses of crimes a voice in the military criminal justice system, Alice has worked tirelessly to help people and communities heal. For Sergeant Alice Gallop West, service to country and community did not end with her time in the Army-it began there.