Selfless Service
vBy Aimee Huntley
At first glance you would never guess that Angi Juhl had been a soldier in the Army.
Clad in a figure flattering, floral dress, bright fuchsia lipstick and hair in a casual, yet
stylish up do, she appears like many beauticians I have known. These are the outgoing,
dynamic, creative types, who showcase their artistry by beautifying the masses. But for
these artists, their canvas is hair. Aside from her good-humored spunk and glamour,
there is an underlying no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is quality that enables me to envision
Angi in combat boots and khaki camouflage fatigues as well. I see not only a
hairdresser, but also a leader and a teacher too.
Born and raised in Sioux Falls, Angi has lived in Yankton for the past eleven
years with her husband, Angel, and their three children. Angi worked various
jobs in her youth until at age eighteen, when it was no surprise to anyone, she
enlisted in the Army Reserves in 1999. In enlisting she followed the military
footsteps of her mother, uncle, aunt and great grandfather, all of whom
previously had careers in the army. Her mother actually conceived
her while on active duty at Darmstadt; a US Army base located in
Cooperstrasse, Germany. She jokes that there was one family member
“who defected to the Air force and we give him a hard time when he’s
over for the holidays”.
Her basic training was, “way out in the woods”, in Fort Leonard
Missouri. Angi originally hoped to be a criminal profiler for the army,
but decided on training as a Nuclear Biological Chemical Specialist instead.
Her MOS, or military occupational specialty code is SPC, with a rank or
grade, of E4, which means specialist. She said “That was high enough for me.
I was high enough to delegate, but not high enough to have to make snap life
changing decisions. I didn’t want to have other people’s lives in my hands. It was
perfect.”
During her eight years as a reservist, Angi’s work as an NBC specialist
included creating smoke screens to protect and camouflage troops from enemy fire.
Smokescreens can be deployed in a grenade or canister, or made from a moving
vehicle such as a tank or battleship. While the use of smokescreens for warfare
dates back hundreds of years, it became most effectively utilized early during WWII
using the Patterson system. Prior to Patterson, Thomas Edison had been among
those hired by the US government to help create a more effective smoke machine.
Alonzo Patterson, AKA: Smoky, was an infamous rum runner that used smoke
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