|
 A quick, ear-to-ear grin belies the
toughness and authority that one expects
Lt. Col. Freida Oakley ’98 M.S.
must exercise. She’s the boss who
tempers orders with warmth, the leader
who passes muster with kindness. For
now, she has left behind battlefields
and military bases to become a professor
of military science and head Florida
Tech’s U.S. Army R.O.T.C., where
people just say the nicest things about
her.
“She’s very selfless, a servant
leader with an open-door policy,” said
2nd Lt. Travis Owen, Gold Bar Recruiter.“I
love working for her,” said
Connie Lowell, military science office
administrator.
Behind her desk in
her Crawford Residence Hall basement
office, ending her
first year, Oakley speaks of her
life and
the military experiences that brought
her
here. On this day in late May,
she is in the waning hours of being called, “major.”
In
a week Oakley will exchange gold for
silver oak leaves in an
on-campus
ceremony
promoting her to lieutenant colonel.
Six-months pregnant with her
second son, a maternity jacket will be
the first
uniform to bear her new rank.
Oakley,
who grew up in Texarkana, Ark., never
ventured from her
home state
until college graduation. In
1988, she earned
a bachelor’s degree in
marketing from Southern Arkansas
University
and received her Army commission
as a second
lieutenant in the Ordnance
Branch.
It wasn’t family
tradition, but one of those
posters, “Be All You
Can Be,” that drew her
to R.O.T.C.
“I saw that sign and I said, ‘yes!’ ” recalled
Oakley.
How do marketing and the Army
go together?
“I use my marketing skills in
the Army,” she said. “It’s
all about getting people and products together.”
That sounds like logistics. Her master’s degree, in fact,
coincidentally earned from Florida Tech’s Fort Lee graduate
center, in Va., is in logistics management. It prepared her
for many tours of duty.
Oakley has coordinated troops and supplies
on overseas assignments
in Germany, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Hungary. She has
supported Operation
Desert
Shield/Storm, Operation Joint Endeavor, Operation Desert
Spring, Operation Enduring Freedom
and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
She has been Battalion Executive
Officer, Battalion Operations Support
Officer, Chief Logistics Instructor/Writer
and more.
From Hungary
she supported logistics
operations for Bosnia troops. In Iraq, she was second to
the Battalion Commander, charged with moving equipment
and personnel
safely to
the right place at
the right time.
Although she says that she is more proud
of the soldiers with whom she has served
than of her honors and decorations,
she
is running
out of
jacket space
for medals
and ribbons. They include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious
Service Medal (four times), Army Commendation Medal (four
times) Global
War on Terrorism
Expeditionary
Service and the National Defense Service Medal.
She leaned
towards academia, she said, when she saw how she could
help form the leadership skills of young men
and women
in today’s army. “I
was working with future leaders and realized that I could
reach them early through
R.O.T.C.”
At Florida Tech, she replaced the highly
respected Lt. Col. Thomas Tate. With husband Tony,
a civilian logistics
specialist
she
now calls, “Mr. Mom,” and
10-year-old son Cameron, she arrived at Florida Tech
just in time for the infamous 2004 hurricane season.
“The setbacks from the hurricanes
were my first and biggest challenge,” said
Oakley. “The staff and cadets did an outstanding job, though to make
up lost time.
“I have very strong support from
the president, provost and the faculty.
When I say the faculty support me, I
mean they are truly dedicated to the
students
and ROTC program. I’m very proud of being part of Florida Tech.”
Before Oakley’s arrival, the R.O.T.C. staff
naturally wondered what she would be like. Maj.
Pete Vutera (far left), who will take leadership
during Oakley’s
maternity leave, said, “We didn’t know
what to expect at first, but now we have developed
a tremendous amount of respect for her and the
program
is as strong as ever. I would follow her anywhere.”
Oakley
sets the tone, said Vutera, and “she has
very little tolerance for irresponsibility. If
you fall short, she will bring down the hammer.
And she
has done that.”
She is, as mentor-friend
Col. Daniel Kirby said before he placed the
silver oak leaves on her
shoulders, “One of those special soldiers.” | 
