At the 5th Annual Filipina Summit held at the nation’s capital in late 2007, seven high-ranking Filipina military officers took center stage and shared their stories on how they broke the proverbial glass ceiling in their chosen field. One of them was Major Juliet Beyler, who recalled that she struggled and did not have good grades when she was in school.
"I was a wayward youth," admitted Maj. Beyler, who was then the Legislative Affairs Director of the US Marine Corps. She realized that in order to straighten things out, she enlisted in the military, a decision that distraught her parents. "They almost had a heart attack," she quipped.
Beyler said she found a home as she grew up in the military. "It was happenstance, but it was the best decision that I made in my life," she said in a newspaper interview.
Now serving as the Legislative Assistant to Senator Jim Webb from Virginia, Major Beyler is a native of Palatine, Illinois, where she was born on March 22, 1967. Upon graduation from high school, she enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as a Korean Cryptologic Linguist and Intelligence Analyst for ten years prior to being commissioned a Second Lieutenant from the University of Illinois via the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Program.
After graduation in May 1995 as the Reserve Officer Training Corps Distinguished Naval Graduate, and with a degree in Economics, she transferred to Okinawa, Japan as a Combat Engineer Officer. First Lieutenant Beyler served there for three years with 9th Engineer Support Battalion, Marine Air Ground Task Force Service Support Group-31, and 3rd Maintenance Battalion as an Engineer Platoon and Detachment Commander, and twice as a Company Commander.
In April 1999, Captain Beyler reported to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, where she served in the 4th Recruit Training Battalion as a Series Officer and Company Executive Officer. She also served as Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island and the Eastern Recruiting Region.
Captain Beyler transferred to 8th Engineer Support Battalion in May 2002 where she was initially assigned as the Commanding Officer, Company B. Following deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom I, she became the Battalion Logistics Officer responsible for coordinating all logistical requirements for ten overseas operations to Guatemala, Iraq, Bosnia, and Africa. In February 2004, she directed logistics activities for the emergency deployment of Combat Service Support Detachment (CSSD)-21, Regimental Combat Team-8 to Port-Au-Prince following the overthrow of Haiti’s President Aristide. During this assignment, she was promoted to the rank of Major and reassigned as Future Operations Officer where she led the mission analysis and developed the CSSD detailed plan for transfer of authority from Marine to United Nation forces.
Upon return from Haiti, Major Beyler was assigned as Operations Officer, 8th Engineer Support Battalion and deployed to Iraq for a second time. Throughout this seven month deployment, she directed over 70 large-scale engineer operations in thirteen locations across 84,000 square miles of the Al Anbar Province. Operations included: construction of Iraqi Security Force and election worker basecamps and entry control points; offensive combat ambush operations; bulk fuel operations; and explosive ordnance disposal support. She also tactically employed a Bosnian explosive ordnance disposal platoon, the first combined Federation/Republika Serbska unit in Bosnia Herzegovina.
In November 2005, Major Beyler was assigned to the Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Virgina where she served as the Explosive Hazards Branch Head responsible for integration of Counter Improvised Explosive Device capabilities for the Marine Corps. She was the Legislative Affairs Officer for the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Combat Development and Integration.
Major Beyler is a graduate of the Amphibious Warfare School and her personal awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal (three awards). (AJPress)
( Published August 11, 2010 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. B3 )
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