A Soldier's Story

Once upon a time, when the choice came between taking to the stage with her music and the staging ground of the United States Army, Caterina G. Veronesi chose the latter.

Veronesi had a degree in performance art from Boston University. And though she sang with the Tanglewood Opera and the Hartford Connecticut Grand Opera, her life, unlike the notes she sang, felt a little flat.

"I was 18 and I thought: 'this isn't enough.' I'm always going to be able to sing. I had met Jessye Norman and Pavarotti. But it felt shallow," said Veronesi, now 44. "It sounds hokey but I wanted to do something for my country."

So in 1985 the young opera student left Boston University for basic combat training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Twenty-six years later, scores of soldiers have come to know Sergeant Major Veronesi as a leader. As a drill sergeant, Veronesi trained hundreds of green troops. And now, as part of the 352^nd Civil Affairs Command (CACOM), she helps countries rebuild and reboot.

With CACOM, Veronesi works directly with civilian counterparts from Djibouti, Africa to Dalia, Iraq. Within CACOM's ranks are doctors, lawyers, public works people, teachers and even the occasional opera singer.

"I was always drawn to JFK's quote, 'Ask not what your country can do for you...'" said Veronesi, who lives in Bridgeport between deployments.

Today Veronesi uses her uniform between deployments to do good works, be it working with Wilton's Female Soldiers, Forgotten Heroes (FSFH), or Greenwich's Children of Fallen Soldiers.

"She is something," said Wilton resident Shalini Maderas, founder of FSFH.

Veronesi comes from a military background; her father spent three years in the Army with the Tenth Mountain Division. He frequently told his daughter about life in Germany during the Cold War. His stories impressed her.

So Veronesi went to an army recruiter, ever mindful that her mother, Grace, didn't relish the idea.

Of her four brothers and sisters, Veronesi is the sole sibling to serve. Her mother worked as a part-time barber at Barber Serville in Fairfield. Her father Tom worked as a carpenter all around the region.

Veronesi said everything her father related about military life came true: the camaraderie, the challenges and the chance to make a difference. But first came boot camp.

"It was very in your face, front-loaded stress," Veronesi said, recalling her initial encounters with the drill sergeants in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.   "It's a tactic to see where you are mentally. It's to tear down the civilian in you and rebuild you as a soldier."

The World War II-era barracks and corroded wall lockers didn't improve morale. Weapons occasionally misfired; Veronesi said she still has a scar on her face from hot brass.

"It was very physically tough," she said. "It was a culture shock."

The Army has changed considerably from when she joined. Today women make up about 20 percent of the military. It is, in her words, more sensitive than in the past to the nation's diverse demographics.

After eight weeks of basic training, she went to Fort Benjamin in Harrison, Indiana, became a paralegal and entered the JAG Corp. She was assigned to the Third Infantry Division in Germany and later in Korea.

Veronesi served six years of active duty service and then transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve. While in the reserves, she has worked for businesses in Stamford and Cannondale.

In 1995 Veronesi became a drill sergeant, responsible for teaching young men and women how to become soldiers. She was the only female candidate in a class of 92.

"I learned to do everything, and I mean everything, faster than the men, from dressing to using the lavatory," said the Sergeant Major.

Only about 22 percent of drill sergeants are female, according to www.army.mil, the official homepage of the U.S. Army. Ninety percent of all drill sergeants are combat veterans. Of those, 45 percent of have had at least two combat tours.

Come September, Veronesi will be deployed to Iraq for the second time.

"I'm really motivated," Veronesi said. "I want to do good. I've got the heart of a lion."

Next Installment: Sergeant Major Caterina Veronesi goes overseas and returns...numerous times.