Reservist nurse sees stint in Afghanistan as ‘culmination’ of career

The petite, elegant blonde walking into the restaurant with the green and gold paisley shawl tossed over her shoulders didn't quite look the type. She looked like one of the ladies who lunch, the ones who don't have to work and have time for two-hour lunches. Hair, makeup, jewelry -- all perfect.

Once again, perception and reality collide.

Maureen Nolen is no lady of leisure.

Maureen Nolen is a U.S. Army Reserve major preparing for a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan. A nurse by profession, she works as regional performance improvement manager for Fundamental Long Term Care Companies.

But in September, the third-generation military brat leaves Las Vegas to help run a deployable medical unit.

Maureen is a bridge between two wars. Now 58, her active duty started in 1972 as a dental assistant in the U.S. Air Force. She became an Air Force reservist in 1978. Her husband, Larry, is a retired U.S. Air Force major, based twice at Nellis Air Force Base in 1983 and 1990. Their son, Sean, served two tours in Iraq and is safely home now.

Major Mom and Major Dad?

Military service is at the heart of this family.

I first met Maureen at the Evening Mesquite Club. "That's Maureen, she's a nurse going to Afghanistan," the program chairwoman said with respect as she briefed me on the crowd before my speech. Clearly, people who know Maureen are proud of her.

After the Air Force Reserve, she took a break for motherhood, two sons, and accompanied her husband on overseas assignments all over the world. She earned her nursing degree at UNLV and then in 1988 joined the Army Reserve as a nurse.

Her stint with an Air Force Reserve unit that loaded cargo airplanes didn't make use of her nursing skills; but after her transfer to the Army Reserve, she joined in 1990 the 349th Combat Support Hospital unit based in Los Angeles.

"My Army father swore me into the Air Force, and my Air Force husband swore me into the Army reserves," she said, describing the yin and yang of her military life.

She's aware that there are potential hazards awaiting her at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. "We cannot be considered combatants, but I have to be able to take care of myself," she said.

But she realizes that danger is relative. "I could get shot at Nellis and Lake Mead," she said.

Between her husband's military career, her son's military service and her own reserve duties, there are a lot of hellos, goodbyes and tears.

In 2004 and 2005 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, she was deployed to Germany for 13 months to serve at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the major hospital for those injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. She had been there six months when she learned that Sean was heading for Iraq for the first time.

The most disturbing of the combat casualties, she said, are the brain injuries.

"They don't look changed, but I know they were not the same child their mother sent over," she said. "With brain injuries, what we love about people changes."

Maureen has known about the unit's deployment since January but told her sons only last weekend, knowing that this column was in the works. Sean, 29, was matter-of-fact and OK with the idea. Brian, 25, a valet at the Stirling Club at Turnberry Place, reacted the way she expected: "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"I could have said no at some point," their mother said. "But I'm coming to the end of my career. I see this as the culmination, doing what I've been trained to do," said the 5-foot-1, 130-pound woman.

Throughout the years, Maureen said her time as a reservist has been a time for renewal. "During that time, I'm nobody's wife, nobody's mother," she said. "I am just me, and my successes or failures are on my own merit."

"You're being deployed?" more than one person has said with disbelief.

"But there's a lot of support from my peer-aged women," she said.

Maureen Nolen's peers regard her with respect and admiration. Certainly this peer does.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275.