MP learned lessons during her service

Mar. 6—Today's veteran: Stephanie

Bakich, 61

Born: Billings, Mont.

Residence: St. Marys

Service: Army, 3 years

Rank: Specialist 4

Duties: Military police

Recognitions: Humanitarian Service Medal

Duty stations: Fort McClellan, Ala., Fort Chaffee, Ark., Fort Ord, Calif., Germany

Her story: Stephanie Bakich wanted to go to police academy after she graduated high school, but she didn't want to wait until she was 21 years old so she chose another route.

Bakich decided to enlist in the Army after she graduated high school so she could be trained as a military policeman without having to wait three years.

"I wanted to go to police school. I didn't want to wait," she said.

Bakick kept her decision a secret from everyone for more than a year so nobody could try to talk her out of enlisting.

"I wanted to try something new and exciting," she said. "All my friends were shocked."

Bakich said she was "totally naive" about what military training encompasses, and didn't make the best first impression when she got

off the bus to report to basic

training.

A drill sergeant told Bakick to "drop and give me 10" after she called him "sir." The mistake of addressing a drill sergeant with sir, a phrase reserved for officers, led to her first learning experience as a trainee. Instead of dropping for 10 pushups as ordered, she said she squatted.

"I had no idea what he meant," she said. "It was like a Private Benjamin movie."

She quickly learned what the command meant and was reminded of it throughout her time in basic training.

"I tried not to take it too seriously," she said.

But the additional attention and pushups paid off, as she completed basic training with the battalion fitness award.

She stayed at Fort McClellan for her law enforcement training, where she learned everything a civilian counterpart would learn in a police academy.

After graduation, she stayed at Fort McClellan where she worked as an MP conducting road patrols, issuing traffic citations, responding to domestic arguments at on-base housing and other law enforcement issues.

Her next duty station was at Fort Ord, Calif., where she conducted MP duties, as well as going into schools to talk to students. She said her law enforcement duties kept her busy.

"There was always something," she said.

Her most unsettling moment came at Fort Ord during a domestic dispute where the husband caught his wife having an affair with a neighbor. The husband had two attack dogs and a rifle. Bakich diffused the situation and convinced the man to surrender. Bakich said she questioned her sanity after the encounter.

Her time in California was interrupted when she was sent to Fort Chaffee, Ark., for three months to guard refugees.

"I didn't really care for that," she said of guarding refugees.

She returned to Fort Ord for several months until she got orders to Germany, where she worked with the German police with the search and arrest of females.

"They aren't allowed to touch American women," she said.

She traveled across the country in her job, where she also provided security for the Miss Universe contest.

"We went all over," she said.

The duty was great, and it was a learning experience living in a foreign country.

"I didn't live in barracks and we went all over," she said. "I had a lot of good assignments."

In the end, Bakich said she learned her future was not in law enforcement.

"I didn't want to be a cop any more," she said. "I loved it, but I was homesick."

Our Veterans runs once a month on Saturdays. Contact Gordon Jackson at gjackson@thebrunswicknews.com to suggest a veteran for a column.