CSM (R) Heather Smith

CSM (R) Heather Smith sat down with me for Heroes I Know. Seventy-three minutes. Poison Ivy. Memories and laughter.

Bricktown, New Jersey. Born around seventy-one, seventy-two. She ended up in the Army and then on the trail. Drill sergeant name Poison Ivy. Flannery still calls her that.

Running shoes with her BTUs. Coffee mug exploding at her feet. The whole floor lost phone privileges that night. She was not afraid of a blanket party. She worried about it the way a new drill does. Then she became the one they feared for the right reasons.

Bianna Yeager was standing next to her when Adams walked up. Heather said she was going to OCS. Adams said wait what. She had it. She is a leader. I wanted that on the record. Thank you, Sergeant Major. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.