Saturday, April 20, 2024
Many local residents know Georg Cleverley as a patrol lieutenant with the Gatesville Police Department, but before she served the community in blue, she wore U.S. Army green and camo in 25 years of military service.
Originally from Virginia, Cleverley's service has taken her around the world, including stops in Germany and South Korea.
"When I finished school in the mid-1970s, there weren't a lot of opportunities for lower middle class girls right out of high school," she said. "I had been accepted to college but there weren't many scholarships available. I knew the G.I. Bill would pay for my college, so I joined the military. I wanted to see the world and do something different."
Because the Army had a limit on the number of females it would admit at any one time, Cleverley said she had to delay her entry into the military for five months.
"After three years (in the service), I decided to stay and ended up in the Army for 25 years," she said. "I retired in 2001 as a sergeant major and decided to go into law enforcement."
Cleverley said she originally wanted to be a military police officer, but was considered to be too short and did not weigh enough according to the Army's standards at the time.
Instead, she joined the signal corps. During her service, the Women's Army Corps was blended into the regular Army.
"My first duty station was at West Fort Hood," Cleverley said. "Then I went to Korea and was promoted to sergeant. I learned a lot over there, including how lucky I was to be an American citizen. It really opened my eyes."
Cleverley was later stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina for three years, and also served as the only female instructor at the U.S. Army Academy.
She was stationed in West Germany in the early 1980s and later served nine years at Fort Hood, including during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and President George H.W. Bush helped lead an international coalition to oust Iraqi troops from that nation.
"My unit was attached to the 82nd Airborne," Cleverley said. "We went with the first wave and did very well. We were over there for about a year."
After the coalition repelled Iraq from Kuwait, Cleverley went back to Germany where she served as a first sergeant.
She said that wherever she was stationed, she was the highest-ranking female. Early in her career, she was passed over for a promotion because those in authority did not expect her to stay in the Army. When it was clear she planned to stay in the Army long-term, she earned promotion after promotion.
"I enjoyed my time in the military," Cleverley said. "When it was time to get out, I remembered that I had wanted to be a police officer. I went to police academy and ended up here (in Gatesville). This department gave me an opportunity."
