Chris (Kirschbaum) Fox - 1986
Kathy (Kirschbaum) Harrington - 1985
Uncommon commitment x 2
What are the chances that two sisters from McGregor, Iowa, would both become lieutenant colonels in the United States Army? In a word, remote. Yet, that’s what Kathy (Kirschbaum) Harrington (BA ’85) and Chris (Kirschbaum) Fox (BA ’86) have done.
Kathy (Kirschbaum) Harrington (’85), is a civilian-soldier whose commitment has taken her halfway around the world—to central Iraq, and a trailer where she lives in a 10' x 10' space. She walks 100 yards to get to a bathroom and shower. It’s but a minor inconvenience. She’s just happy to have air conditioning when the temperature hits 130 degrees.
A senior program management director with Nextel Communications, reserve Maj. Harrington was mobilized last March for a one-year deployment to Iraq in June. On August 26, she was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Now stationed at Camp Victory, Iraq, Harrington is deputy of the Force Modernization Division, working to get armored equipment, high-tech products and training to soldiers in the field.
“This was a completely new role for me, but it turned out there were a lot of similarities with my civilian job,” Harrington said. “I am responsible for inserting new technology, systems and equipment into Iraq to support the soldiers fighting the war. It’s very similar to program managing a new initiative or product implementation at Nextel.”
Bottom line, Harrington is saving lives. She is working with Army Headquarters to replace “soft-skinned” vehicles with up-armored versions that can withstand an improvised explosive device (IED). “There are many testimonials from soldiers that have walked away from an incident in which they ran over an IED only because they were in an armored vehicle,” she said.
Harrington assured us that Camp Victory is “probably on one of the safer bases” in Iraq, although it does get random, periodic mortar and rocket attacks. “The enemy is usually somewhere outside our perimeter. Most of the time, they are a bad aim and don’t hit anything but, unfortunately, we have had some incidents in which soldiers have been killed.”
Harrington served active duty from 1986-1995, during which she earned a master’s degree in management information systems. Upon returning to civilian life, her stateside military reserve assignment became personnel command in Alexandria, Va. Her last deployment was during Desert Storm while she was still on active duty. Unlike 10 years ago, there is e-mail and Internet access this time around, but being away from family and friends is still one of the biggest challenges she faces.
“I didn’t question my obligation to be here, and you can pretty much say the same about every other soldier over here—probably the most committed and loyal group of people you would ever meet.”
Harrington, whose undergraduate degree was in marketing, said her UNI and ROTC experiences helped her acquire the independence and adaptability she needs in her current circumstances. “I learned to be flexible and not be afraid of change. I especially learned during ROTC how important it was to show initiative and not be afraid to take on something new. Self-confidence is a key component of leadership, and I believe I reinforced my self-confidence at UNI.”
Emeritus Professor Jackson Baty was a key influence in Harrington’s decision to come to UNI and join ROTC, choices that were “instrumental in forming the person that I am today.” Baty had met Kathy and Chris Kirschbaum at the McGregor marina, back when both high-school girls worked summer jobs on the docks. “I had it narrowed down to two colleges. Jack helped push me ‘over the edge,’ and I selected UNI, which turned out to be a great choice,” Harrington said.
Her sister also chose UNI, and Baty sponsored both women into the ROTC program. He also wrote recommendations that helped them get ROTC scholarships. “Although there were points in my ROTC tenure when I wondered if I made the right decision, in hindsight, my 10 years of active duty in military service was very rewarding and I learned a lot. I have no regrets whatsoever and plan on continuing my military reserve commission until I complete a 20-year career.”
Harrington characterized the camaraderie in the military as “amazing.” She said she’s making friends that will last far beyond this deployment. “I feel like what I’m doing is very rewarding,” she said. “I know that I am making a difference every time I get another armored vehicle out to the soldiers. I have had so much support from my family and friends at home, it is just unbelievable. Even folks who don’t believe in this war are still very supportive of the troops over here. I hope that never changes. But I will still be very happy to get back to the good ol’ USA in May when I finish my deployment.”
 Chris (Kirschbaum) Fox (’86), is a year younger than Kathy, but outranks her sister by six months. She is in her 18th consecutive year of active duty, and was promoted in February 2004 to lieutenant colonel, Acquisition Corps, in the United States Army.
Fox is currently assigned to the United States Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Her living conditions are admittedly far superior to her sister’s. “I have the luxuries of home,” Fox said. “I work an average of 8-10 hours a day and get to go home each night to my husband and four children. However, my job does require me to travel extensively to ensure that I am adequately representing the end-user of the system I am building.”
The end user Fox represents is the field soldier. To those of us whose daily tasks do not involve the ultimate survival of others, the responsibility seems enormous. “I am responsible for ensuring that the soldiers in the field have the right tools and equipment they need to accomplish their mission,” Fox said. “It is my job to identify the shortfalls in the intelligence systems that currently exist in the Army and build a system that overcomes these shortfalls.”
Specifically, Fox’s position is deputy system manager for a new intelligence system called the Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A). Her team of nine military and civilian personnel is currently researching and writing requirements for the system.
“DCGS-A will provide near-real-time information to the warfighter in the field,” said Fox. “I represent the end user throughout development by ensuring the program manager builds the system in accordance with requirements. Once the system is built, it is fielded to the units and soldiers, which is the phase my sister Kathy is involved with.”
Getting a system all the way from development to the field is a task of near epic proportion. After the information is gathered and the requirements written, documentation must be “packaged” so that industry can bid on the job, write the code, build hardware, software and firmware, and design and conduct testing to ensure interoperability with all other systems.
”It can take as long as five to 15 years from generating new system requirements to the development, training and fielding of the new system to units in the field,” Fox said.
One of the toughest aspects of the job is that a team seldom stays on a program to completion. “We only stay on an assignment for three years and then we transfer to another,” Fox said. “It’s important for us to move to different positions and jobs in order for us to grow and excel.”
Fox exemplifies the ability to do both. She expanded on her UNI degree in industrial technology by earning a master’s degree in systems management from the University of Southern California while stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, from 1987-1991. She credits her ROTC experience at UNI with giving her the tools to grow professionally and personally.
“My sophomore year, I was awarded a three-year ROTC scholarship to UNI,” Fox said. “It helped to offset the costs of going to college, since my mom, a single parent with eight kids, could not afford to monetarily assist Kathy or me with college. Once I joined the ROTC program I knew I was going to be in the Army for at least 20 years and here I am, only two years short of that dream.
“The Army’s been great for me,” Fox said. “I’ve had the opportunity to meet new people, travel to many places I would never have dreamed, and to be part of a large organization—the United States Army. I credit all of this to the University of Northern Iowa, its ROTC program and all the professors and students who make it great.”
|
