LTC Betsy Anne Hove Oral History

title:

LTC Betsy Anne Hove Oral History

creator:

Hove, Elizabeth "Betsy" Anne (1978 October 14 -

subject:

US Military Academy (USMA) | Army

description:

Betsy Hove was born in 1978 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, although she largely grew up in Florida. While in high school she was in the school’s Navy Junior ROTC program, and the head of the program, Master Chief MacFarland, encouraged her to apply to West Point rather than enlisting. She started at West Point in 1997, and she estimates there were around 10 women in her class of 132 cadets. She grew up swimming and playing water polo on teams that were mostly made up of boys and men, which she thinks prepared her to be comfortable attending West Point, where she was surrounded largely by men. She graduated from West Point in 2001 and was commissioned into the Army, joining the 82nd Airborne. In August 2003, she deployed to Iraq as a platoon leader in the 307th Engineer Battalion—the first and only woman to be a platoon leader in that battalion. They stayed there until April of 2004, with the primary job of rapidly repairing airfields. Over their time there, she feels that everyone in the company bonded in a way that is unique to deployment, and they will stay connected because of it for the rest of their lives. If they were deployed again, her role in the 82nd would be to coordinate logistics for her battalion’s equipment, food, water, and fuel. Betsy thinks there’s no way to ensure women aren’t in combat, and that it makes it even more important for women to go through training like Sapper school, which helps them know how to react under extreme stress, deprivation, and combat conditions. Without this type of training, women are not equally prepared to be in and around combat situations. In the future (as of the interview), she would like to be a company commander, because the most meaningful thing for her is to impact the lives of the people around her for the better. The two main lessons she’s taken from her service are that she can do anything she sets her heart on doing, and that she can’t do everything alone. As of this interview Betsy had reached the rank of captain. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Scott, Kate

date:

2005-01-21

type:

Moving Image

format:

Hi-8

identifier:

455; 2005.455

source:

OHP | IMES

language:

English

relation:

597878

coverage:

1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 1997-2001 | 2001-2021

rights:

Unrestricted