Paddler Made the Army Wait
2 Sep
Jalena Baumgartner, a specialist in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is currently waiting to deploy to Iraq. Recently, however, Baumgartner made the Army do the waiting so she could compete in a canoe race.
As the Harrisburg Patriot-News reports, HERE, Baumgartner nearly passed on military service when she was told she’d need to enlist immediately after high school graduation and, therefore, before her favorite hometown canoe race — the Labor Day weekend Kipona Canoe Classic.
“I said I couldn’t come until after the Kipona canoe race, and if I had to report in June, I wasn’t joining,” the Harrisburg native told the Patriot-News’ Mary Klaus.
Army recruiters ultimately relented and now Baumgartner is both a soldier and a paddler. This year she took second place in an all-women’s race at the Kipona Canoe Classic.
Baumgartner expects to miss the event next summer, though, when she’ll be deployed.
