Photo By Kimberly Hackbarth | Sgt. 1st Class Chervon Gentle, a chemical operations specialist with 69th Air Defense...... read more read more
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FORT HOOD, Texas – Sgt. 1st Class Chervon Gentle, a chemical operations specialist with 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, first started her journey to a bachelor’s degree nearly five years ago during a deployment to Iraq.
What started out as setting a good example for junior Soldiers guided Gentle down a path that led across the graduation stage Nov. 20 at Howze Theater.
Gentle always has to be multitasking, she said.
“I’m a mom, so I have to balance two things at a time, all the time,” Gentle, a Yonkers, New York, native, said.
When she received orders to deploy to Iraq in 2009 and then to Kuwait in 2011, she didn’t have her full-time parenting duties, so she was able to focus more on her education, she said.
After returning home from deployment, Gentle said she tried to continue the number of classes she was able to handle overseas, but found that it wasn’t easy balancing work, parenting and school all at once.
Determined to not give up on her education, Gentle said she “made it work” by taking fewer classes and fulfilling her studying and school work requirements in her free time.
She often spent her lunch time studying and set aside time on the weekend to focus on her school work, she said.
“I’d rather take baby steps and slowly get to where I need to be instead of just standing there stagnant,” Gentle said.
Gentle’s fiancé, Desmond Matthews, said keeping Gentle motivated while earning her degree was easy because Gentle motivates herself.
“All I needed to do was to keep her focused on the long-term goal, (and) remind her what and where we want to be after military life is over,” Matthews said via email.
Gentle said her advice to any Soldier wanting to pursue education is to get started now, and to not wait until his or her time in service is over.
Often, Soldiers don’t realize they will still have to have a job while in school, and they might have families by that point and it will be just as difficult as trying to get their education while still in the Army, she explained.
“The Army’s paying for (the education), so (you) might as well use it,” she said.
Even though Gentle didn’t get the formal recognition when she earned her associate’s degree in 2000, walking in a college graduation ceremony this time was not for her, she said; it is for her children.
Gentle said she hopes that graduating and earning her degree while serving in the Army, and even at seven months pregnant, will send a message to her children about perseverance.
“I feel like now this is my way of showing my children how regardless of what things you’ve got going on ... there’s always room to pursue more things,” she said.
Walking in the college graduation ceremony is important because it’s a celebration of her achievement, Matthews said.
“It is meaningful to walk across the stage as her family watches,” said Matthews. “It’s more important that our son witnesses his mother succeed at higher learning, so he knows that we expect the same from him, as education is very important in our household.”
Gentle’s fiancé said Gentle’s drive and desire to always do better for her family and herself and show her children that education is very important motivated her to pursue education so persistently.
“I am very proud of her accomplishment,” Matthews said. “It isn't an easy task to achieve dealing with deployments and life events.”
Earning her bachelor’s is not the final educational goal for Gentle.
Gentle said she plans to pursue a master’s degree before she retires in five years.
| Date Taken: | 11.20.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2014 17:51 |
| Story ID: | 148409 |
| Location: | FORT HOOD, TX, US |
| Hometown: | YONKERS, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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