Warner veteran to march in D.C. parade
May 27—Serving her country is something Warner native Tina Cox has known her entire life.
Having grown up in a military family, Cox never had a second thought when it came time for her to enlist in the military.
A year after she graduated from Warner High School, Cox enlisted in the Army, which kind of went against the grain of what she had known.
"I came from a family of a lot of Navy," she said. "My grandparents raised me and I heard a lot of naval stories growing up. Being from a small town of Warner, I knew I wanted to do something bigger than me, so I chose to join the Army because I wanted to see the world and I wanted to serve my country."
Cox served for five years and was as an ammunitions specialist in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in Kuwait and Iraq. She will represent Desert Shield and Desert Storm veterans in the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington D.C. on Monday by carrying the official National Desert Storm War Memorial flag.
"My first reaction was 'Wow, what an honor,'" she said. "It's really exciting for me to be invited for this, to be a part of this. I'm honored to march in that parade and honored to represent Desert Shield/Desert Storm veterans that aren't with us anymore whether we lost them during the conflict or those that we've lost along the way due to illnesses they've borne after the fact."
She said when she got her orders to head to the Middle East, she thought she might be there a while. Little did she know that it wouldn't take long to end the conflict.
"It was interesting, they were surrendering to us left and right," she said. "We went over there with that in mind that it was going to be a blood bath, but we really just kind of steamrolled them."
While Cox was proud when she enlisted, after her first day in basic training she wasn't sure if it was the right career choice.
"The drill sergeants just come in and start yelling at you," she said. "It's lovingly called a 'shark attack' and they start putting a lot of stress on you. I remember thinking 'What in the world have I done.'"
Outside of serving her country, Cox said it gave her the opportunity to see places and cultures she might have never had the opportunity to see.
"There aren't many opportunities a little girl from a small town of Warner, Oklahoma, might get to travel the world," she said. "I met my husband while serving in the Army. I got to spend time in Germany being stationed there."
Cox said she continues to serve her country by working for Homeland Security living just outside Washington, D.C.
"I'm a passionate patriot of this country," she said. "It's the best country in the world — I worked for the Army for 25 years as a civilian before joining Homeland Security. The security of our nation is very important to me and what I do purchase those products that we need to protect our nation."
