FORT KNOX, Ky — People choose to enlist in the United States Army for various reasons. Some people choose to enlist because they want to fight for their country, others because they want to go to college and many choose to enlist because they come from a big military family. 

For Cadet Natalie Ross-Joseph, assigned to Alpha Company, 5th Regiment, Advanced Camp from the University of Houston, her reason differs slightly — as does her motivation.

As a young girl, she grew up hearing the stories her grandfather told her about his time in the Army — how he was drafted and fought in Vietnam at the age of 17, rather than enlisting, and never got the chance to go to high school because of it.

Through the stories he told her, Ross-Joseph learned about the skills her grandfather learned and the places he traveled during his service, and her interest was instantly sparked. Not only for the Army, but eventually for ROTC, too. 

“It really encouraged me to join the Army,” Ross-Joseph said. “I started looking at the Army when I was very young.”

With her grandfather having served 20 years in the Army, finishing his service as a drill sergeant, and her older brother also being in the Army, Ross-Joseph credits her grandfather for teaching her lots of necessary things about the military.

However, with the plan to graduate in the summer with a degree in legal studies and barely making the cut-off date for Cadet Summer Training (CST), Ross-Joseph’s main motivation lies elsewhere — with her husband and her 7-month old son.

With her husband also being enlisted in the Army and working at the border for weeks at a time, being states away from her family — her home being in Houston, Texas — has been difficult. 

“I really miss them a lot,” Ross-Joseph said. “But I am aware that I have to do what I have to do, and I am just trying to get it done quickly, hopefully, so I can get back to my family.”

But knowing that her family — both her husband and her son — are depending on her, encourages her to keep going.

“My baby and my husband,” she said. “That is what motivates me the most.”

With her degree in legal studies, Ross-Joseph plans to complete CST, commission as an officer in the Army Reserves and hopefully branch into the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). Her ambition to one day become a judge derives from her belief that she is a clear-headed, fair and non-biased individual that believes there is a lot of injustice in the world.

But in the end, it was her grandfather’s stories that sparked it all — and her family that motivates her to keep that spark burning.