3.5 Ideas from Lisa Bodenburg — USMC Huey Door Gunner
4 min readOct 22, 2024
“It’s a privilege to be in this country. It’s not a right. I’ve been driven by an overwhelming need to earn that privilege every day. “ — Lisa Bodenburg
Lisa Bodenburg is one of the first female Huey helicopter door gunners in the U.S. Marine Corps.
Lisa amazing story is featured in NY Times Best Selling author James Patterson’s — “Walk In My Combat Boots: True Stories from America’s Bravest Warriors.”
Lisa offers insights into the realities of modern warfare, the evolving role of women in the military, and the importance of mental health support for veterans.
3.5 Ideas from Lisa Bodenburg:
1) One of Your Favorite High School Teachers Said, ‘You are Throwing Your Life Away’ When You Told Them You Wanted to join the Marine Corp? How Did that Make You Feel?
- “I think it came from a good place. He was my history teacher who actually lit this flame inside of me. I had wonderful coaches and teachers who saw a great deal of potential in me. I earned a scholarship, a free ride to college, so they were definitely coming from a good place. But many people think there’s this cookie cutter plan that everyone has to graduate high school, then go to college, then find a good job that you do 20 plus years, and then you retire.”
- “Well, that’s not the same for everyone. Thank God I didn’t listen to them because the Marine Corps has been the greatest joy and honor of my life. It is such a privilege to serve this country, especially in the capacity I’ve been allowed to.”
2) You Had to Go Through Obstacles and Biases that Women Today Do Not Have To. What’s It Like Being Known for Paving the Way for Future Marines?
- “I’ve been so blessed in the last 18 years since joining the Marine Corps to have had men and women reach out, asking for guidance on their path.”
- “More importantly, women asking me advice on what to do and telling me that they’ve heard stories about me or thanking me for paving the way for them that they were able to get in this position. That still blows my mind. I didn’t do anything special. And I don’t want anyone to think that I did.”
- I did the requirements and the requirements are there for a reason. I didn’t do anything more or less than the men that were standing next to me. The only difference is that I had to fight for the chance to do it. I’m really nobody special. I just wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
3) What Type of Physical and Mental Stress Did You Experience During Your Deployments?
- “My job every day was to leave the wire. To leave the line and go forward into the battle space. We were short crew chiefs. So there were no days off for us. It was a very high tempo, fast paced and high stress environment for a very long period of time. We were given pills that were just labeled “Uppers” and “Downers”. And still to this day, don’t know what type of pills they were. But when we needed to be awake, even after a 16 hour shift and the alarm goes off and there’s men on the ground that need us, you take an upper and you go and you do your job and you save their life.”
- “It doesn’t matter how tired you are. That’s not an option. And then adversely, if you needed to go to sleep because you just came off of a high stress scenario and you can’t sleep, and you only have eight hours before you have to get up again, you take a downer. It’s stressful on the mind and on the body.”
- “I came back looking quite older than I was: wrinkles on my face, very noticeable aged skin, et cetera. So the physical portion, not to mention how physical the job was, I had to have a couple of surgeries from that. And everyone does, every one of us in that community, it’s not just me. We had to deal with it. But when you’re there, it just is what it is. It’s just the job. You know what you’re signing up for. And that’s what you’re trained for. And you’re grateful to be there to do your job. But when you come home, that’s when you start to set your pack down and peel back the layers. And that’s when the emotional portion comes out that you really have to deal with.”
3.5) If You Could Have Everyone Take ONE LESSON Away From Your Experience, What Would that Lesson Be?
- “That you are so much more capable than you realize. You can do anything you put your mind to. You can do whatever it is that your heart desires that is going to challenge you and push you further. Even when you don’t think you can, you actually can. It’s just a matter of changing your mindset for you to believe it. “
- “Even when you’re in the position that you’re the only one who believes it, and everyone else around you is telling you, ‘You can’t! You’ll never do it.’, you don’t have to believe them because they’re not always right. And I’m a perfect example of that.”
