She grew up a girl next door. Outgoing, athletic, snowboards and cheerleading. She joined the Army to pay for college.

Then someone taught her to jump out of perfectly good airplanes.

Sgt. Rebecca Hobson is currently serving in Iraq with Company C, 307th BSB, 1 BCT, 82nd Airborne Division. She’s a paratrooper and a combat medic.

This is her second tour in combat. She spent a year in Afghanistan in 2005-2006.

Afghanistan consisted of combat patrols and humanitarian assistance missions. She was one of three females in her unit. A female went on every patrol, to search Afghan women and to interact with them as male soldiers could not.

During this tour, Hobson rides with supply convoys headed north from Camp Adder. She drives an up armored HumVee, or M-1151. To date, she has not been in a convoy which was attack although convoys ahead or behind hers have been. Her skills on the road have been used at traffic accidents, such a HumVee rollover.

She has undergone egress training for such incidents, in a Humvee Egress Assistance Trainer, or HEAT.

In the next couple of weeks, Sgt. Hobson will be participating in her first humanitarian assistance mission of this tour. She describes much of the country that she has seen as barren, with the people living in mud huts or in tents.

In contrast, she was amazed by the beauty of the Al Faw palace when she visited it. She talked about the intricate carvings, the marble, and the other beautiful things.

I spoke with her grandfather, Marvin Fischer. He served in the United States Army and was first sergeant of his artillery unit. I asked him how he felt about having a granddaughter who was a paratrooper. “Thrilled!” was his reply. He described her as an outgoing and independent person, able to handle herself fine in the service.

Sgt. Hobson would encourage anyone to join the military, whether for a career or not. She highlighted the leadership skills learned and the friends you make as two important benefits of enlisting.

As for the future, Sgt. Hobson is scheduled to redeploy to the United States and back to Fort Bragg in September 2008. She has not decided if she will make the Army a career but is considering it. If she does, she would like to try to go to school to become a physician’s assistant.

Hobson is married, and her husband serves with her. They work out together and work together in the base hospital sometimes. They do not go out in the same convoys.

Her advice to those who will follow her in Iraq: “Stay focused.”

Part 1 of the interview

Part 2 of the interview

You will note that I speak with a lisp, a lateral lisp to be exact. It is one of the few souveniers I have of the many surgeries in my youth to correct a birth defect. Please do not allow my poor speaking to detract in any way from the wonderful interview by Sgt. Hobson.