The pictures portray passion and bravery, telling stories that are hard to put in succinct terms: Samone Johnson, looking badass in a fancy dress and combat boots at a party with fellow veterans years after leaving the Army; Jessica Neal, looking fierce in camouflage out in the field, sporting a close-cropped haircut that has since grown out; Bridget Ehmann, showing her strength as she reaches new heights in a rope-climbing exercise.
These three women have much in common. They served their country in the military, learning formative lessons in discipline, readiness, and sacrifice that would forever shape their lives outside the service. They exude confidence and wisdom. And they’ve also found themselves in the employment of the East Hampton School District, where they each draw meaning in their interactions with students, parents, and colleagues.
Ms. Johnson assists students in the special-education program at the John M. Marshall Elementary School and coaches the high school cheerleading team, having worked her way up in various roles with the district since 1997. Ms. Neal is the district’s registrar, using her Spanish-speaking skills to assist parents and students signing up for school, and has worked for the district since 2012. Ms. Ehmann is in her third year teaching English at the high school.
East Hampton “is lucky to have veterans who work in our schools. Samone, Bridget, and Jessica are role models in every sense of the word,” Adam Fine, the district superintendent, told The Star yesterday. “In my years as an administrator, I was always impressed when we had job candidates who were veterans. Typically, they would be projected to be talented, dedicated employees. Personally, I truly appreciate their service to our country. They are the best of us.”
Ms. Neal, 45, enlisted in the Army in 1997, right after graduating from East Hampton High School. She served in active duty until 2000, when she transitioned to the Army National Guard for four more years. Originally from Colombia, she came to the United States at 8 years old.
Leaving East Hampton for the Army, Ms. Neal said she matured. “I grew up so quick. At that age, nobody’s really mature, right?” she said. “Leaving town helped me see the world. The service, for me, also helped me to appreciate my family. I remember calling my mom and my grandmom and apologizing for being a horrible kid. I felt grateful that I had a family who loved me.”
She is a divorced mother of three who returned to East Hampton in 2013 to raise her family. “Today, when I’m given a task, even if I don’t know I can do it, I’ll try it anyways, and that’s how I raised my kids. There’s a lot of discipline. They’d probably tell you, ‘My mom is so hard on us.’ “
Ms. Neal, who attained the rank of E-4 specialist, attended the Veterans Day breakfast at John Marshall last week. “It was so beautiful to keep that tradition, and for the kids to be grateful. Our older community is grateful because they’ve seen conflicts and wars, but our children don’t know war. They don’t know what a conflict is. To hear them say ‘thank you for your service’ is emotional for me.”
Ms. Neal pushed her limits, learned a lot about herself, and unknowingly prepared herself for motherhood along the way. “There was a lot of training in the mud and rain, and many sleepless nights, and road marches and runs every day. But it was always motivational. The Army’s motto, ‘Be all that you can be,’ I tap into that when I know I’m given a task that I think is so hard. . . . I think especially when you have kids and think, ‘This is so tough,’ you just take it one step at a time, put one foot right in front of the other, and keep going.”
For Ms. Johnson, 59, and a mother of four grown children, her service in the Army was from 1985 to 1990, during which she also attained the rank of E-4 specialist and was stationed for two years in Korea. In addition to teaching children with disabilities and coaching cheerleading, she is a volunteer emergency medical technician with East Hampton Village’s ambulance company.
“I defended my country with the military, and here I’m helping save my community. At school I always give back and help others in need,” Ms. Johnson, a 1983 graduate of East Hampton High School, said. “If someone calls me for help, I’m always there. I spread myself out pretty thin.”
The Army became an obvious option after she attended college for a year and decided it wasn’t for her. “I didn’t feel like being an adult with a full-time job, so I decided to join the military,” Ms. Johnson said. “It gave me discipline; it gave me organization.”
She returned from the military in 1990 as a single mother. “That’s why giving back to my community is not a question. I’m always here to give back because they helped me in my time of need.”
She discussed an issue that many military women struggle with: biased, unfair treatment. “It isn’t easy for women. Most people said, ‘I don’t see you as a woman, I see you as a soldier.’ Women are taken advantage of a lot. There were some hard times in the military, but I stuck with it and met some wonderful people, and I don’t regret any of it.”
Ms. Ehmann, 32, is still on active duty with the Army National Guard, which entails reporting two days per month and two weeks per summer for training. She is now an intelligence analyst. A former gymnast, she keeps up her fitness levels through regular workouts to be ready for possible deployment on a moment’s notice.
Just before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, she was working as a substitute teacher in Center Moriches, but when the pandemic was in full swing, she found herself without a job. “It was a perfect time to sign up,” Ms. Ehmann recalled this week. “I was gone for basic training and advanced individual training the entire time during Covid. When I came back, I was then able to interview for jobs. It worked out beautifully for me.”
She’d been interested in military service for a long time. “When I was in high school, it wasn’t an option that I saw as fitting for myself, because I was presented with the idea that it was the military or college. I didn’t realize you could do both. It wasn’t until I was substituting at Center Moriches High School and walking around the college fair when I learned about the National Guard. I joined on the spot.”
Ms. Ehmann’s students are aware of her service, but she doesn’t typically speak about it unless they ask. “They know I have to be gone sometimes for training, but I don’t necessarily volunteer information. If there is a question about it, I will answer it for them, but I don’t want any parents to think I am pushing any ideology on them,” she said. “I think my lack of speaking on it allows them to recognize it is something not done out of seeking recognition or acknowledgement, but it’s for me to pursue something that I value. I give back to a country that does provide more opportunities for people in other countries.”
Asked whether they’d do anything differently if given the chance to do it all over again, Ms. Neal and Ms. Ehmann said they wouldn’t change a thing. But Ms. Johnson said she would have stayed in the service longer. She has a sense of “unfinished business.”
“I didn’t really want to get out. I enjoyed the military. . . . Then I started having children, and it became harder,” she said. “Did I have thoughts of returning? I did, but I needed to be a mom at that time.”
Their experiences in the military continue to shape their lives.
“Right now, I have discipline because of the military,” Ms. Neal said. “The work ethic is there because of the military, and an appreciation for everything that I’m doing. I don’t take things for granted.”
“When I think about tough challenges now,” Ms. Johnson said, “I always think about the time when I was in the military and how I would face it. Sometimes there was no choice, you have to face it.”
As a teacher, Ms. Ehmann’s expectations of her students align with those she experienced in the Army National Guard: “to be honorable, to have integrity, to be on time, to put in your best effort, and to be selfless when you approach different experiences and topics. I try to get them to recognize when there’s an expectation that is set, you do everything to meet that expectation, so you are seen as someone that has integrity.”