FIRST LIEUTENANT ANNIE PARNELL
The educators and mentors who nurtured Annie Parnell's curiosity about technology helped her on her journey to become a cyberspace officer in the Marine Corps. Learn more about her story.
CYBERSPACE OFFICER
Q: WHAT KIND OF STUDENTS WOULD BE DRAWN TO THE CYBERSPACE FIELD YOU CURRENTLY WORK IN?
Anyone who is just a curious and logical thinker who likes to find out how things work. You don’t even have to have an understanding of computers or the technical side of things, I didn’t until I got to college. But that’s functionally what computers are, they’re very logical devices. So those who like to just dive into things and understand how they work, they would be a great fit for this MOS (Military Occupational Specialty), and honestly for the Marine Corps as a whole. Being a Marine and a warfighter first, but just being curious about how to solve problems.
Q: DESCRIBE THE FIRST TIME YOU EVER HEARD THE WORD “MARINE” AND DESCRIBE WHAT YOU WERE THINKING THEN.
My family is not a military family at all. My brother and I were the first to join. The first time I ever said “Marine Corps” I pronounced it “Marine Corpse” and my dad had to correct me. I had no clue what the Marines were all about. And it wasn’t until meeting a Marine through my brother’s boy scout troop that I started to get it. Just the way he presented himself I could tell he was different. He took care of those around him and I admired that. But I didn’t really consider the Marine Corps as a path for me until college.
“I grew up in a very small town. My graduating class in high school was 78 people. I knew I wanted to get out and do something different. I was also drawn to the challenge. I knew it was going to force me to grow as a person and not just for myself.”
-FIRST LIEUTENANT ANNIE PARNELL
WHAT MADE YOU START CONSIDERING IT?
I met my now-husband in college who was a Prior Service Marine. He never pushed me to join but he introduced me to the network of Marines. As I started to meet them I realized that the Marine Corps is made of a wide diversity of people and in the Marines I wouldn’t need to become more intense and intimidating, I can still be the person that I am. I found a lot of commonality with Marines. Those were the people I got along with and had the most common understanding with. There was an underlying pride that came through that I didn’t have at the time. And I wanted that.
Q: NOW THAT YOU’RE A MARINE, WHAT IS THAT PRIDE LIKE?
Marines are driven. We like things to be done right and done well. We appreciate hard work in those around us. And we hold each other to a high standard. At the end of the day, we’re proud to be here. We wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else. We swear an oath to the Constitution, to a principle and an ideal and there’s great pride in that.
