Col Marianne S. Waldrop, USMC Ret. Oral History Part 1

title:

Col Marianne S. Waldrop, USMC Ret. Oral History Part 1

creator:

Waldrop, Marianne Susan (1965 January 6 -

subject:

Marine Corps | Marine Corps Reserve

description:

Part 1 of 2. Marianne Waldrop was born on January 6, 1965 in Quantico, Virginia. Her father graduated from the Naval Academy in 1948, as a part of the class that had their graduations split across two years due to the war. After graduating he joined the Marines, and met her mother while he was stationed in Quantico and she worked at the library and Red Cross. She grew up with three older siblings, one sister and two brothers. Her father was primarily stationed in Virginia between Marianne’s birth and his retirement in 1975, although his last duty station was at Parris Island, South Carolina. After he retired, the family stayed in South Carolina for a few years before moving to North Carolina, and Marianne ultimately graduated from West Carteret High School in Morehead City, North Carolina in 1983. She knew she wanted to be a Marine since she was 10 years old, although she also knew she didn’t want to wear what women Marines in the 1960s and 1970s were wearing. While in college, she transferred from the Navy ROTC scholarship she was awarded in December of 1983 to a Marine scholarship in 1986. She graduated from University of North Carolina: Chapel Hill in 1987, commissioning into the Marine Corps the day before graduation. At the time, that was the best day of her life. She didn’t actually have any idea of what she wanted her career to look like at that point, what had mattered most was making it to commissioning day. After about three weeks off, she went to basic school in Quantico, which was ten weeks for her and the other women even though basic school for ROTC grads was meant to be six weeks. Because there were so few women, they were not allowed to go into this accelerated course like the men. After that course, she went to specialty training to become what was at the time called signals intelligence, now just intelligence. The interview jumps ahead to Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from here. At the time, she was stationed with the 2nd Radio Battalion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and they were not a part of the Marines deployed early on, in August 1990. They were told they’d deploy on November 10 and deployed on December 21, but in that time Marianne was on and off the deployment roster 12 times as they debated whether women should deploy at all. When they made it to Saudi Arabia, she felt certain that chemical weapons would be used and that she would die there. While stationed in Al Jabayl, she worked at the Special Compartmented Information Facility supporting the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. This work was highly classified, so in the event of SCUD activity, she was among those who would stay at their stations rather than go into the compound’s bunker. After the air war started, they planned everyone’s return quickly and she was back in the United States in March 1991. After taking some leave and completing more intelligence training, she was stationed at Misawa Air Force Base in September 1991. She was promoted to captain while taking part in a Navy exercise in Korea on the USS Blue Ridge. After her time in Japan, she attended Naval Postgraduate School and got a master’s degree in computer science. Her payback tour was four years working in acquisitions at Marine Corps Tactical Systems Support Activity, which was so demoralizing that she resigned her commission in October 1999. She worked several jobs from then until the attacks on September 11, 2001. Ten days later, she was called by a lieutenant colonel to return to active duty. She thought it was a prank call because she had resigned, but he told her that she was in Individual Ready Reserve because she only resigned her active duty commission, not her reserves commission. She asked for a deferral until January 2002 to get back in shape since she didn’t know she could be called to active duty, and reported to duty in Tampa, Florida. Because those three years technically counted towards her service time, she was qualified for promotion to lieutenant colonel early on in her return to active duty. She was assigned to the intelligence section of US Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, working with the planning team for Iraq starting in February 2002. Almost as convinced as she was that they would be killed during Desert Shield/Storm, Marianne was just as sure that the war with Iraq would not actually happen. After a year there, she accepted orders to Cam Lejeune, North Carolina to be closer to her father, who was sick with Alzheimer’s. She was there for four years with Second Marine Expeditionary Force. He passed away in that time, and she was deployed to Djibouti in support of the Commander Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa. She returned in July 2004 after her mom was diagnosed with lung cancer. Her mother passed away in November, and she returned to working with the 2nd Radio Battalion, which she had deployed with during Desert Shield/Storm. She was offered three year orders on Active Duty Special Work, so she went to the 3rd Maintenance Aircraft Wing in Miramar, California. She was there from February 2006 until she retired in November 2011. At her retirement in 2011 Marianne had reached the rank of colonel, and for her service she was awarded a Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal with a gold service star, and National Defense Service Medal with a star. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Unknown

date:

2013-06-06

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

1301.01; 2013.1301

source:

OHP | IMES

language:

English

relation:

173974

coverage:

1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm—1990-1991 | Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)—2001-2014 | Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq)—2003-2011 | 1987-1999 (active) | 1999-2002 (reserve) | 2002-2011 (active)

rights:

Unrestricted