COL Tracy L. Roou, USA Ret. Oral History

title:

COL Tracy L. Roou, USA Ret. Oral History

creator:

Roou, Tracy Lynn (Smith) (1968 August 20 -

subject:

US Military Academy (USMA) | Army

description:

Tracy L. Roou (born Smith) was born in August 1968 in Sacramento, California. Her father was a career Air Force officer and pilot, her mother was a stay-at-home mom, and she had two younger and one older sibling. She graduated from a private Catholic high school in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1986, becoming interested in attending West Point during her junior year of high school. She applied to every academy and all ROTC scholarships and got into each one. West Point accepted her application the earliest, she had already visited and liked the environment, and she felt an instinct to accept their offer. She majored in foreign air studies of the Soviet Union, which involved history, political science, and language courses. She participated in swimming her first year at West Point, then switched over to various intramural sports since she had grown sick of competitive swimming. During her second summer she went to basic field training, during her third summer she went to airborne school and worked with a transportation platoon, and during her final summer she was an instructor at cadet field training. Her best guess is that there were around 60 women in her class (who graduated), and because everyone lived with the same company of 36 people for all four years, there were only two other women in her company who she lived with and saw regularly. At times, she struggled with the academics since they were so focused on math and science, which were not the fields she had excelled in growing up. When she was attending West Point she felt that women had first been let in a long time ago, because 10 years feels longer when you’re younger, but looking back on it she realizes that she was there remarkably close to that first class in 1976. While there were some courses women weren’t allowed to take, she didn’t feel like her opportunities and experiences were limited because of her gender. She would not change any of her choices regarding attending the academy and would recommend it to anyone interested. Her husband was in her class at West Point too, but he had left the Army before they married and was able to take of their two children and support her career more easily than if he had stayed in. She went into air defense artillery and was first assigned to Germany after graduating in 1990, staying there from 1991-1994. She returned to Texas, went through advanced course, then was stationed at Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, Texas where she commanded a battery for two years. That battery also went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when she was in command. Once she hit 9 years, she decided to stay in and put in an application to change permanently to a functional area that was not air defense. She studied Russian for a year in California, then was stationed in Central Asia and Russia. She then went to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, and was stationed at Bolling Air Force Base after completing her studies there. Her work there focused on Russian intelligence. As of the interview, she was a few months away from returning to her previous station at the Marshall Center near Russia. Reflecting on her service, the only thing she would maybe change is finding a way to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan in the place of her tour in DC. Tracy retired from the Army in 2016 having reached the rank of colonel, and for her service she was awarded a Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal with a star, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Army Overseas Service Ribbon with 4 numerals, NATO Medal, and Parachute Badge. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Reborchick, Marcy

date:

2006-10-21

type:

Moving Image

format:

mini-DV

identifier:

804; 2006.804

source:

3rd Annual Academy Women Symposium

language:

English

relation:

602330

coverage:

1990s | 2000s | 2010s | Operations Noble Anvil/Shining Hope (Kosovo)—1999 | Global War on Terrorism—2001-present | 1986-1990 | 1990-2016

rights:

Unrestricted