{"id":229681,"date":"2024-07-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=229681"},"modified":"2024-07-20T06:39:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T06:39:44","slug":"mustang-major-shares-love-of-mentoring-onoff-rugby-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=229681","title":{"rendered":"Mustang major shares love of mentoring on,\noff rugby pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Army Maj. Danielle Deshaies breaks away during the 2024 Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championships in San Diego, Calif. July 12, 2024. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
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Army News Service<\/p>\n

SAN DIEGO \u2013 As one Army major helped her team take gold at the Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championship here at Nobel Field July 13, she reflected on why she serves in the Army and loves rugby.<\/p>\n

Call to serve<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maj. Dani Deshaies, battalion operations officer, Fort Bliss, Texas, grew up with two uncles who served in the Army. One served as a doctor in Operation Iraqi Freedom.<\/p>\n

In 2009, she said she went to a recruiter and asked for the quickest way to join the Army. After two years, she went through the Green to Gold program. The Army paid for her to finish college, and she commissioned through ROTC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was enlisted, I did become a human intelligence collector and did a strategic debriefing in a deployed location,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a learning experience. I was interacting with senior officers while I was a private first class. It was cool to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost 14 years later, she continues to take what she learned along the way to be a better officer and leader. Mustangs are officers who were previously enlisted.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving gone from enlisted to officer gives you an understanding that you treat everybody with dignity and respect,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody\u2019s better than anybody else. You try to empathize and put yourself in everybody else\u2019s shoes, be more understanding. You don\u2019t forget where you came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Army Maj. Danielle Deshaies scores one of many Army tries during the 2024 Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championships in San Diego, Calif. July 12, 2024. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom)
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Rugby<\/strong><\/p>\n

Deshaies said the best part of Armed Forces rugby is that the teams consist of a mix of enlisted and officers who can mentor each other as they progress in their careers.<\/p>\n

Deshaies said she\u2019s become an organizational leader and loves to mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main goal, my purpose, is to give back and to provide mentorship because one day, the junior officers are going to be where I\u2019m at. I want them to at least have one example to reflect on of a leader who cares and who genuinely wants to do what\u2019s best for them and for the organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

She mentors both officers and enlisted Soldiers, on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my idol. I\u2019ve been telling her since 2019 that I want to be like her,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Lolita \u201cLo\u201d Galdones, combat camera, Fort Liberty, North Carolina, team co-captain. \u201cShe keeps us in check but she\u2019s like the mom of the team too. She\u2019s the first person I talk to when I excel in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Army rugby team wears, \u201cFor those who can\u2019t\u201d on their team shirts, honoring female service members.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach year, we wear the name of a service member who is no longer here, but also for those who can\u2019t, family members, or teammates who couldn\u2019t join us or can\u2019t be here,\u201d she said. This could be due to mental or physical injuries.<\/p>\n

This year, she\u2019s honoring Spc. Kennedy Sanders, one of three Soldiers who passed away in January from a drone strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stood out to me about her was her passion, her commitment, her dedication to her Soldiers and to the mission,\u201d she said. \u201cThat resonated with me because I\u2019m very passionate, not only about this team but about the military, about mentorship, giving back and the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

The major found rugby in 2013 and has been playing on and off for 12 years. She recommends any intramural or competitive sports to female Soldiers for quality of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sort of biased toward rugby, but sports give you a network; it gives you a community,\u201d she said. \u201cI can go to any installation, any city, look up the local rugby team and visit. It\u2019s like a family. They\u2019re very welcoming. You stay active, you meet great people, it gives you something to do, and you make great friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since women\u2019s rugby is such a small sport, she stays in contact with her competitors from the Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. Members from each other the branches also competed at the International Military Sports Council, or CISM, Women\u2019s Rugby International Challenge in the Netherlands with France, Ireland and the Netherlands rugby players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a phenomenal experience, not only getting to share it with some of the sister services but getting to interact with our NATO partners,\u201d she said. \u201cWe came together, played some rugby, had a good time, learned about the different cultures. It was really an amazing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Deshaies may show drive on the rugby field, she said everything she does is bigger than her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think about your purpose and legacy, I want people to remember me as a good person who cared, who took care of others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army Maj. Danielle Deshaies breaks away during the 2024 Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championships in San Diego, Calif. July 12, 2024. (DoD photo by EJ Hersom) (Photo Credit: EJ Hersom) VIEW ORIGINAL Army News Service SAN DIEGO \u2013 As one Army major helped her team take gold at the Armed Forces Women\u2019s Rugby Championship here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229683,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-229681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=229681"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229686,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229681\/revisions\/229686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/229683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=229681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=229681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=229681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}