1SG Tiffany Myrick Oral History

title:

1SG Tiffany Myrick Oral History

creator:

Myrick-Woodley, Tiffany

subject:

Army | Cultural Support Team (CST)

description:

Tiffany Myrick-Woodley was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, and went to Norfolk State for about a year before joining the Army in 2002. Her dad had served in the Army from 1973-1976, and her grandfather was a Marine in World War II. She had wanted to be a Marine, but the Marine Corps office was the last in the building and an Army recruiter got to her first. She had a daughter when she was 16 and was struggling in school, so she planned to join the military for GI benefits to return to Norfolk State, and chose Military Police because the security clearance would look good on a resume. She was first deployed 2004-05 as an MP to Kandahar and Bagram, Afghanistan where she worked at detaining facilities. While there, she was trained to go on a mission with a Marine Corps company to assist with searching women and children, but because of the season she wasn't sent out to do it. She was really glad to be able to work with the Marines on this deployment, even though it was only training. She was also interested in seeing the villages and countryside of Afghanistan and learn more about the culture of the area. During her unit’s transition from Kandahar to Bagram is when four detainees escaped from the facility. Her next deployment was 2011-12 as part of the Cultural Support Team (CST). When she heard about the program, she was a platoon sergeant at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and one of her soldiers had told her that if infantry roles were open to women, she'd definitely be able to do it. Later, one of her team leaders brought her a flyer for CST, and she saw it as her opportunity to pursue the combat roles that were shut off to women. After being selected, she went to training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a part of the first group that actually volunteered for the program. Most of this training was more in the lane of civil affairs and cultural training. She served with 75th Ranger regiment and a SEAL team. When she and her partner first arrived, the men were very receptive and welcoming of their presence there. She was on Direct Action missions, so all of them were at night and on a very quick timeline, and although they put a lot of planning into each mission she feels that most of them did not go to plan. She remembers on one mission there was a woman and her baby, and while they were going to search the baby the mother was screaming and seemed to think something was going to happen to them. Upon eventually searching that baby, they did end up finding intelligence that had been hidden with it. Sometimes Afghan women would be really curious about her hair, which was in braids at the time, and because she is tall and dark-skinned some others were initially afraid of her. They went out on missions almost every night on this deployment, so most of her free time was spent sleeping. They also had private Nokia phones with prepaid minutes and MWR phones they could use to contact people, so Tiffany was able to maintain consistent contact with her daughter while in Afghanistan. Because her daughter was three when she first joined the military, Tiffany made sure she always knew what was going on, and she was very understanding of the circumstances of her mother's deployments. Her 2011-12 deployment was her last one, and although she tried to return, it never worked out. Although she did not enjoy Afghanistan when she first arrived, the longer she was there and the more she interacted with Afghan people, the more she grew to like the country and culture. In her service, Tiffany learned that there is so much more out in the world than she thought, and that life is short so you really have to go out and live it. She was still in active duty as of this interview. She was awarded an Army Commendation Medal, Bronze Star Medal, and Combat Action Badge. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Gill, Dennis

date:

2022-10-07

type:

Moving Image

format:

Born Digital

identifier:

1367; 2022.1367

source:

CST - FTP

language:

English

relation:

767914

coverage:

Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)—2001-2014 | 2002-2022

rights:

Unrestricted