COVINGTON, Ga. — Carsi Betts makes sure every boot is in place, every uniform spick and span. The Newton High School senior has a lot of responsibility as the commanding officer of the Marine Corps JROTC and a lot of pressure in the role.
"I do uniform checks for gunning and I teach the classes sometimes," Betts said. "It’s not that I’m looking out for myself anymore. It’s not just a me thing. I’m over the whole program, so I have to look out for everybody. If one of the cadets does wrong in the hallway, I’ll talk to them and say 'hey, don’t do this.' I’ll take accountability for it. It’s not your fault, it’s mine. I should have showed you what to do.”
Betts oversees 120 cadets and draws inspiration from her family's military history. Her brother and sister-in-law were in the Army.
“I’m going to face a lot of challenges being a minority," Betts said. "I’m African-American, I’m a female. It’s a lot. People are intimidated by that.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are 2 million female veterans, about 10% of the veteran population. Women account for the fastest-growing group of veterans.
For retired Sgt. Maj. Debra Spencer, getting ahead in her career meant conquering a different type of battle.
“We were competing with men, and we had to be better," Spencer said. "We had to be more disciplined. We had to outrun, out-pushup, out-situp. We were not allowed to train with our male counterparts, and so we trained under a women’s training group called Women’s Army Corps.”
Spencer stuck it out through several instances of sexism and racism in her 25-year career in the Army. She spent 15 years as an Army reservist and ten years on active duty. She enlisted in 1975 and retired in 2014, earning promotions and medals along the way as she protected the land she loves.
“Although I am female and I am African-American and I’m a single parent as well, I never allowed those obstacles to hinder my goal," Spencer said. "That goal was to represent the United States of America. When they found out I’m just as equally mentally, just as smart as they were, just as competent as they were, that they could learn from me, that we were team players, that we were all in this thing for one cause together – it actually minimized much of the racism.”
Spencer, a member of AMVETS, is passionate about teaching subsequent generations about the importance of military service. It is that goal to achieve a common cause, hard work and discipline that serve as inspiration for Carsi Betts.
“My bearing has to be good," Betts said. "I can’t let nobody throw me off my game, because people are going to say things. People are going to talk, but I can’t let that affect me. I’ve got to be accountable. I’ve got to move on and stay motivated to get to where I want to be. It’s not just wearing the uniform, it’s the responsibility you earn when you put the uniform on."