By John Montesano
The Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named Tanya Reyes our July 2020 Veteran of the Month. She was born September 16, 1971 in Aurora where she lived until she entered the U.S. Army. She was graduated from East Aurora High in 1989 and attended Waubonsee Community College for one year. Tanya joined the Army September 19, 1990. She didn’t want her parents to pay for her college. She would use the military experience for her college fund.
Her boot camp was at Fort Dix, N.J.. There, she applied for the Army Single Soldier Green to Gold Program, which provides eligible active duty enlisted soldiers an opportunity to earn a commission as an Army officer. She was accepted to officers school at West Point after her deployment.
Tanya was ready with orders to go to Saudi Arabia in February 1991, however, March 2, she received notification that Desert Storm ended February 28 and she was not going to Saudi Arabia. She admits she was relieved.
Tanya was married April 12, 1991 and because no longer single, was not qualified for West Point.
Advanced Individual Training (AIT) was at Fort Eustis, Va. for three months and her MOS was Army Apache Attack Helicopter Repairer (67R). Brian Gilbert, was on temporary duty from Colorado retraining as an Apache mechanic in the same unit as Tanya. They were married in Aurora while on leave. Brian went back to Colorado and Tanya went to Fort Campbell, Ky. assigned to the 159th Aviation Regiment, 8th Battalion 101st Aviation. They were reunited in July 1991 at Fort Campbell.
Tanya was alone during May and June 1991 when she was twice assaulted (not raped). During the investigation, she was sent to EEOC School. There was no finding and to make it worse, the two men responsible, in separate instances, were promoted! She was the only female in her platoon at Fort Campbell. Tanya was in a man’s world. She had to be one of the guys. She had to work harder to be accepted. It was frustrating that she was limited in what she was allowed to do, even though she had the same skills as the others. As a female, she was only allowed to be a mechanic, not be a crew chief, nor a pilot, nor even ride on a helicopter because women were not allowed in combat.
Tanya was honorably discharged February 18, 1993. She was a dependent, military spouse. She gave birth to Damien Gilbert March 10, 1993. Brian was transferred to Fliegerhorst, Germany; they lived in Gelnhausen, Germany. After only one year, Brian was deployed to Bosnia with Operation Joint Endeavor and spent 17 months there while Tanya and baby remained in Germany.
She went to work as a loan officer for Pioneer Military Lending and provided lending service to service men and women. Tanya came home to Aurora with Damien November 1997. She and Brian were divorced in December 1997.
Tanya was remarried in 1999. She worked as State of Illinois Correctional Officer in St. Charles for 3.5 years and in Dixon for four years.
There was a divorce in 2007. With no job or place to live, she took action. She moved back with her parents, and returned to school for an associates degree. In 2008, she worked for a bank as a teller and was promoted to collection officer. In 2016, after losing that job because of merger, she went to work for First Centennial Mortgage in sales. She took a course in mortgage loan origination and became licensed. She has been a mortgage loan officer with First Centennial since September 20, 2016 as a specialist in helping veterans with VA loans.
Tanya attributes her success to what the Army taught her: In the end, the only one who you can rely on is yourself. You have to go back to doing what has to be done to get the job done. No matter how bad things get, it is always up to you.