Laurie Trahan: Welcome to Camo and Crayons today, and we are doing our second episode and we're so excited. Our first guest is gonna be none other than our staff sergeant, Annika Lyons, and we're gonna talk

Annika Lyon: Hello.

Laurie Trahan: to her today about being a female in a male driven industry, the Marine Corps, and what it was like when she made her decisions to go to boot camp, what boot camp was like as a female, and what her career was and all of the Juicy stuff in between and after. So let's get into it. for anybody who is just tuning in and missed our last episode and doesn't really know you too much. Can you just give them a quick brief introduction of yourself and your role in the Marine Corps?

Annika Lyon: Yeah, for sure. So for everybody, my name is Annika, Annika Lyon. I joined the Marine Corps in 2016. I just got out this last year, medically separated from the Marine Corps, almost 10 years. I was an ammunition technician all 10 years. The last year and a half, I was what's called a uniform readiness coordinator. As an ammunition technician, I handled all logistics of ammunition, whether that's accountability, counting, moving, planning, preparing, all of the things is what I did with ammunition throughout the units I worked for. As a uniform readiness coordinator, my job was to have the answers, whether you are a spouse, a sister, a brother, a mom, a grandma, a grandpa, a cousin, a great, great uncle. I don't care who you are. If you had a question about the unit and what we were doing or needed some type of assistance. My entire purpose in life was to be there and provide that answer for you. I also was, I like to call myself a glorified party planner. I love to throw unit parties. We had some fantastic pool parties and all of the things that I lovely had the lovely chance of utilizing unit funds to do not my own money. so the battalion commander would authorize me to spend a lot of fricking money to be able to put on parties and good stuff for the Marines and just bring everybody together for what can be. hard to find camaraderie on Parris Island because our schedule is so hectic. With the recruits and with the recruit battalions and everything like that, such pain in butt. So yeah, that's what I did. I am a mom to a six year old. Maybe Marine, I don't know. We'll see. He told me the other day he wanted to be an astronaut. So we'll see how that goes. I'm a wife. He is a warrant officer in the military in the Marine Corps. We have the same job, fun fact, so that makes for a very fun dinner conversations in our household. But yeah, that's me. And that's been my last 10 years. Originally from Washington state, for those who don't know. So not the biggest military producer state in the world, but we made it work. Here I am. So happy to be here today.

Laurie Trahan: Well that's that's really exciting. That's really exciting. Okay, so let me ask you a question, Annika. If a young woman is thinking about joining, but is feeling intimidated, is unsure of her belonging, you know, not really sure about what decision she makes, what kind of advice would you have for somebody like her?

Annika Lyon: I would say, I mean, you have to think any decision you make at a young age regarding a career, it's all intimidating. Doesn't matter if the word Marines in it doesn't matter if it's Airman, seaman, whatever. Doesn't matter if you're wanting to go do finances. It doesn't matter if you're wanting to go be a hostess at your local restaurant. Anything can be intimidating when you're getting out of that comfortability zone. So I think with me is my piece of advice if I look back to how I was. I was way too comfortable in my life, arguably extremely comfortable. I was set in my day to days. I didn't really ever challenge myself at that point. I was in college, just kind of going through the motions and I wasn't, like it wasn't fulfilling to me. There was no part of that that I was like, yeah, I'm doing something with my life today. No, I wanted a challenge and I didn't really know what that challenge was. I... kind looked into the Marine Corps and I looked at what it could make for me and it was intimidating as all heck. at one point I was like, I'm so comfortable and good in my life. I don't know if this is the right decision. Cause it's going to break me out of every part of that. So I mean, if you're looking for something that's going to bring you to your base self, take away all the comfortability, take away everything you know, like all of the normalcy in your life, you strip all that away. and you want to know who you are as a person without all of that and you want to know who you can build as a person as you grow, then the Marine Corps is for you. The military is for you. It's going to provide challenges. It's going to be a fantastic way for you to be able to shape who you could become. I mean, it doesn't matter if you stay in for one enlistment or you stay for 10 enlistments. Like it's a way to just do something. And it leads to so many other opportunities that like, yeah, it's intimidating the first time you get the idea. It's intimidating to think about. You could be like, no, we'll choose something else. But once you make that decision, promise you so many doors open up. It's intimidating for the first little bit. And then you start and you find yourself within it you get into the groove and it is just another career like anybody else has. So that's my advice. Just go for it.

Laurie Trahan: Yeah.

Annika Lyon: The least you can do is not like it and get out after four.

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: but you have so many more opportunities that you didn't before you joined.

Laurie Trahan: Right, right. That's important to to to know that yeah, it's intimidating to join the military, but it's also intimidating to maybe go to college and to start that first job, whether you're a teacher or or even a hostess, like you said, you know, it's it's intimidating whatever you do, but learning to go and do those things really helps build you as a person. What when you made that decision to go into the Marine Corps, I know we've talked about it, it was a very last minute decision for you. You kinda you kinda really didn't even have this on your bucket list, did you? No.

Annika Lyon: Not at all. There was no part of me that had this plan. I was in college. I was going to business for I was going to college for business. I was planning to hopefully work for my dad or something along those lines because he's a marketing director. That's always what I wanted to do. And then I went to a pulley function because my brother joined shortly before I did went to the pulley function, got tricked, was told that I was just going to see what boot camps like for a couple of days. Go see people get yelled at. No. I was the first one to get yelled at and the last one to get yelled at and I had my butt handed to me the whole weekend and I thought it was the coolest crap I've ever done in my life. I was like, this is it. Sign me up, I'm not comfortable, I love it and we're gonna go for it. And then I showed up on that Monday, signed paperwork, went home and was like, I have a date for boot camp and my dad was like, huh? It was a shock.

Laurie Trahan: That's funny. That's you know, something you just said to me really stuck out and I and I say this to people that work for me and everything else. You said, I was uncomfortable, sign me up. That's huge right there. Stepping outside your comfort zone because you grow so much as a person, as a woman, as a Marine, as anybody, as any role that you have in your life, when you step outside that comfort zone, what do you think that you learned? Stepping outside that comfort zone that day when you enter that poolie function before you even decided to make you know, sign those papers.

Annika Lyon: I within just doing the small, I consider that a baby step compared to the rest of my career that I jumped into. Like there were

Laurie Trahan: Right.

Annika Lyon: decisions that were made that I was flying into, no hesitation. And I think me going to that pulley function set me up to be able to have the mindset to do that. It gave me the idea that I can go into an uncomfortable situation and something amazing can come from it. It doesn't always end up bad. You don't always end up uncomfortable for forever. Making that decision that day set up my mindset for the rest of my career of take the uncomfortable option and it can turn into something that turns out great for you. So I think that's the biggest thing I took away that day.

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Army Sherry: Do you know the statistics of how many women are in the Marines? Because you know, when you think of the Marines, you think of a very man or man-dominated role. And so you hardly ever see a lot of females.

Annika Lyon: Yeah, I mean the biggest slogan is to say we are the 1 % of the 1%. So, I mean, there truly is not that many. Like, I, the unit I was at previously before this one, there were 168 of us and 3 of us were females. So, it's

Laurie Trahan: Wow.

Annika Lyon: like, you walk into these rooms and it's male dominated as all heck. And you just, it's... nerve-racking and like we're talking about it's uncomfortable. It's not fun to be the only female in the room. would the amount of briefings I would sit in there's 60 of us in this auditorium or there's 10 or 20 of us sitting at this conference table and I'm the only female I'm one of the youngest but then I have the biggest role to play within that meeting and I have the biggest part to present I have the biggest issue that has to be addressed and it's not an issue because it's me doing it it's an issue because the unit has to face it it's not just because I'm a woman it's this is what we need to address. It just so happens that you have a woman telling you you need to fix it.

Laurie Trahan: Deep down that's gotta be a little bit empowering too, right? You're standing in front of all of these men of all kinds of ranks and you know, with a so much different experience and here you are, the woman briefing them. That has gotta be a boost to your morale too, I would think.

Annika Lyon: It is. And I think one thing I always tell my females that were under me is I didn't become an ammunition chief because of my birth certificate, my gender. I became an ammunition chief because I am Staff Sergeant Lion, I am Sergeant Lion, I am Corporal Lion. I know my crap. I know what to do and I'm going to get the job done. My birth certificate, my gender had no role in that. If you look, it won't even tell you I'm a girl when you put these orders in. So.

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Army Sherry: D

Annika Lyon: There is no

Army Sherry: did

Annika Lyon: part of my gender that got me those jobs.

Army Sherry: Did you ever come across like a man saying like or or somebody saying you're a girl, you don't know what you're talking about, any

Annika Lyon: many times.

Army Sherry: kind of dis discrimination in that kind of aspect or downplay?

Annika Lyon: Yeah, and I think it kind of goes back to you have those older salt dogs that are, back in my day, we had a woman Marines, which like, whatever, I'm a female Marine, I'm a girl, I have boobs, like, I'm sorry, I can't help it. But I'm here

Army Sherry: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: like you are, I'm doing the same job you are. You just happened to be born 30 years before I did, sorry, like I can't do anything for you. So I think one thing for me is, going into that mindset is like you have. Anika, who is a woman, who is a mom, a wife, all the things. But you also have Staff Sergeant Lyon, who is a Marine. I don't care what's under my camis. I'm still in the same camis you are. And I know my stuff. And as long as I know what I know and I bring it to the table with facts and I'm tactful and respectful about how I tell you you were incorrect, your gender and my gender don't make the facts right or wrong. The facts are the facts.

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: So I don't care that I have to tell you you're wrong. I don't care that you're telling me I'm wrong. That's the beauty of the Marine Corps. You learn, you listen, you move on. My gender doesn't change that you're incorrect. Sorry, it just doesn't. So, and that's

Laurie Trahan: No, but true.

Annika Lyon: one way I always looked at it and one way with like I would walk into a room and a major would look at me sideways because I'm the only girl walking in and I am a corporal or I'm a sergeant or I'm a staff sergeant and I'll have shinies on my collar. I haven't been in for 30 plus years like half these dudes have. I did my work, I learned, I listened, I taught where it was needed, and I was great. I gave myself some grace when I was wrong and understood that I was wrong and listened to the person who taught me. And that's the best thing you can do. And that's the only thing you can do. Because if the worst thing they can say is, you're a little girl trying to tell me what to do, me being a little girl doesn't change the fact that the order states this and this is how things get done. So.

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Army Sherry: Did you ever did you ever have somebody come back and say like, Wow, I I'm sorry I have this persona of you because of, you know, your race or your your gender that said, Holy shit, you really know what you're talking about and you you've proved me wrong.

Annika Lyon: Yeah, so they're all, I won't name names. I can make up a name. There was a staff sergeant. We will call him Staff Sergeant Teddy. I don't know. And he is now a chief warrant officer. Fun fact of the day. And we are all still in the same community. My husband knows him. I know him. He and I were working on a project for one of the MUSE together with an ammunition and He just did not want to listen to anything I had to say. He would cut me off on phone calls, he would cut me off in conferences, he would cut me off in meetings, briefings, everything. Would talk over me to the point where, and my thing I'm always gonna tell another female, if you get talked over, you talk louder. I don't care. I don't care who they are, I don't care what's on their call or you get talked over, you talk louder. And that's what I would do every time. I didn't care. At that point I was a Sergeant, he was a Staff Sergeant. I'm going to run with it, we're going to work on it. And so I just kept going. I knew I was correct. And part of what he was saying was correct. So one thing I would do was touch in on what he's saying that is correct and then leave the part out that he was wrong on. So I was like, we'll just not bring that back. So you don't talk about it anymore. So one thing I would always do is continue with him. I would talk through my points. I would make sure it said, I would make sure it's out there. And then I would go back and I would double tap. And at the end of every briefing, I sat in with him at the end of every conference, at the end of every phone call. I wrote out an email of every point we talked about, every plan we decided on, and how we were correct on the actions we chose. And I would do the whole debrief. And I would email it him. Like, staff sergeant, here you go. This is what was discussed about today. Please let me know if you have any further questions about what we discussed. And after six months of working with the dude, and the project went fantastic, homie wasn't even there when it was time to do the thing. He comes back and he goes, out, that actually worked out really well. I was like, did it, I didn't notice.

Laurie Trahan: Yeah.

Annika Lyon: And he was like, you actually did really good. I was like, I'm waiting for the but. He was like, there's no but, like I was wrong, you did good. And I was like, okay, thank you. Next time, just because. were girl or just because you were in five years longer than I was doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. If you don't talk over me and you listen, sometimes you'll find out we're correct. And that's nine out of 10 times a majority of the time. So, and that was, I mean, there's been others, but that's always been the one that stuck out to me because we're still in each other's lives. We still see each other's stuff all the time. I mean, Chandler just had a discussion with him not too long ago and he was like, you're married to her. And he was like, yeah, that's my wife.

Army Sherry: Okay.

Annika Lyon: So it's,

Laurie Trahan: Mm.

Annika Lyon: I mean, it's a thing, but it's fun when that moment comes back and they're like, okay. I had a master guns the other day that are not the other day at my last unit. And the guys were giving me crap about what we were doing with the Mew. And he was like, I don't think you understand that she will run circles around all of you and every briefing. She knows it all. She'll take notes. She comes back. She knows it all. And that's a majority of females because we have nothing to do but to listen, take in,

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: take the notes and run with it. And we learned. Guys don't do that. Most of the time.

Laurie Trahan: Right? It's important. It's important to listen, to learn, and to know that you can learn from somebody higher than you, but also somebody that's lower in rank than you too. You know, we all come from

Annika Lyon: Absolutely.

Laurie Trahan: different walks of life and have different experiences. And being coachable, like you said, you know, you were I know I like that point when you said, you know, I can admit when I was wrong, I know when I'm right, and I can learn from others. That's a huge thing, is being coachable, especially as a female, because they're already you're already down a couple notches with some of these guys already, you know. so I have a question. I have a everybody knows if you follow us on TikTok, which I hope you do. but everybody knows my girl Haley, who went into boot camp in April. now she's a a Marine. She's already done with MCT and all her schoolhouse. But she had a long road to get there. And I wanna ask you your opinion on how you would advise a young lady that goes through a situation like this. She had an excess amount of weight to lose. She did all of the hard work on her own. and then she, you know, she lost close to a hundred pounds to get to the point where she could even qualify to be a Marine. It was something that she wanted very badly. you know, we had a lot of conversations on how she was going to talk to her parents and tell her parents that she had signed papers to become a Marine. And then she went through boot camp and then that's where it started. The you're not from other female Staff sergeants and sergeants telling her, You're not thin enough. You're you are f like they would use the words fat, you're fat and this and that. And she would call me and she'd be upset and crying. She'd call her mother, upset and crying. You know, she's worked her ass off, lost over a hundred pounds. That's a lot of weight for somebody to lose, you know. She's as tall as I am, she's a you know, a little thing. And I know we've discussed it a little bit before, you know, those kind of things to me would push somebody to have an eating disorder. What is some advice as a staff sergeant and somebody who has been in the Marine Corps or the military, because we know this isn't just a Marine thing, this is a across the board because we've heard it from other young ladies too. What is your suggestions to them on how to deal with something like that when you are still working out? And yet everybody's got improvements that they can make, you know, but you have made the cut. You're the Marine. You are passing your PFTs and your CFTs. So how how what kind of advice do you have for a young lady that's going through a similar situation that Haley went through?

Annika Lyon: So I think one thing that's hard is the standards that we have within the Marine Corps are not easy to maintain. Coming from somebody, I've always been, I played rugby, I played soccer. I've always been a muscular, thicker girl. I've always been that way. So the Marine Corps was hard for me. When it came to height and weight time, there was times where I'm sitting in the sauna in a sauna suit, going in between the sauna and running on the treadmill in sauna suits, sweatshirts, sweats, all the things, just to see what I, just to be good. And I was always within like, five-ish pounds depending, but at the same time, it's the stigma of, oh, you had to get taped to make weight. Oh, you don't look as small as the girl standing next to you in uniform. Oh, you wear a medium instead of a small. Those little things are always gonna be there. Unfortunately, it's just a mindset of you have to know the work you're putting in yourself. She lost 100 pounds, that's amazing. 90 % of people can't do that. like speaking as somebody who is actively doing the thing, I wouldn't be able to do that. So I think it's one thing of remembering how far you've come, why you chose to make that decision and to get to where you are and always remember that they're not putting in the work you are. Like screw what they think. don't care. You're gonna have, you're gonna have the petty female leaders. I actually have a story I wrote down to share and this is a perfect time to do it. You're gonna have the petty ones, you're gonna have the good ones, you're gonna have the great ones, you're gonna have the terrible ones. Let me see. This is the time to do that. I had a female leader. We will say her name is Sergeant Tornado. We're gonna go with that, because that rhyme's actually, if she listens to this. I truly believe this woman's goal in life was to make everyone else's life miserable because she was miserable with her own. Like she would call you fat, she would call you lazy, she would call you this, that, that, that. I never saw her at the gym. I never saw her taking any of these fat Marines out to PT. I never saw her trying to make anybody better. I never saw her trying to do her is make herself better. She just did the, she went through the motions and you could tell she was just miserable and she wanted you to be even more miserable than she was. And you run into those and it's like you have to it's so easy to fall into what they're saying and it's so easy to make that your mindset. Trust me, been there, did it. I thought the worst of myself when I was under her. But then you have leaders like my girl, we'll call her, staffs are Tora. She was amazing. You needed something. She made sure you had it within 10 minutes. You felt like you were needing some help with the gym. Guess what? She was there ready to freaking walk with you or run with you to the gym. She would let you decide and she would work out with you at the gym. You needed a ride somewhere, she's outside honking at the barracks telling you to get in her car. Like that woman would give you the own shirt off her back to make sure you were as successful as you needed to be. She wouldn't ever talk bad about you. If she did, it was constructive criticism. This is where you're at. This is where you need to be. What can I do as a leader to help you get there? Like there are female leaders like that and it's amazing because Some of these girls don't ever see that and it's frustrating for me as a female leader So then you have her she would take meetings with just the female Marines She would call us all in and then she had a male staff start do the same thing for the males. She would take all the females somewhere He would take all the males somewhere who'd pick up like 20 minutes during shower after work and She say what do you need from me to make sure you are all successful? What can do you need from me to make sure your mindset is where it needs to be to be successful at work and to be a successful Marine and woman? What can I do for you? Because that's all we need. I do can sit there and call me fat. You can sit there and call me this. You can say I suck at running. I do suck at running. That's the truth. Like, but at the same time, like I'm putting in the work to change it and I don't see you doing anything to help me. So those

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: ones aren't worth listening to. They're they're not. You're going to find the ones. And you're going to find the ones that are good. You're going to find the ones that are going to help you. You're going to find the ones that are going to build you up, not tear you down because they're unhappy with themselves. So me as a young female Marine, when I was in the junior Marine stage and I was listening to either Sergeant Tornado or Staff Sergeant Tora, obviously I took everything I didn't want to be as a leader from Staff Sergeant Tornado and everything I wanted from Staff Sergeant Tora. And I molded myself into what I needed as a junior Marine, as a female. So for Hailey, it's don't listen

Army Sherry: That

Annika Lyon: to the ones that aren't helping you. They're there because they're probably just as unhappy. They're making comments because they have nothing else to talk to you about. And that's not a good leader. Listen to the ones that are good. There are going to be good ones. You're going to find them somewhere. I promise you they're out there and they are the ones you should listen to. They're the ones that are going to help you. They're the ones that are going to push you through it. The naysayers? Screw them. Cause at that point, they're not there putting in the work with you. They're not even putting work in themselves. They're just putting you down and that's not fair.

Army Sherry: Not just as a Marine, but as a woman and a leader. What challenges did those things that you came across shape the person you are today?

Annika Lyon: I think one thing for me that I learned as a junior Marine when it came to seeing what I wanted my career to look like, seeing where I wanted to take myself, I learned to kind of take a step back and listen. I listened to the leaders above me. I took their good traits. I took their bad traits and I made a mental note. I took what leaders did for me, what leaders didn't do for me and I made a mental note. I took... I listened to my fellow junior Marines and what they did and I took note of how they made their decisions of what led them to make the bad decisions, what led them to make good decisions and I just listened and I took note of everything and I built that into what I thought we all needed as a leader. I built that into what if I were to look in the mirror and need advice from myself about something. I used all of that information I took from others to build almost a ladder, a stepping ladder, to get myself to the top of the leadership that I wanted to be for my junior Marines when I got to that point. Cause you, I didn't know if I wanted to stay in. I was completely convinced I was going to get out after one thing. And so little experiences, just everybody, everybody has their own little ones, but there's little experiences that just stick with you of I needed to go to the emergency room one time as a junior Marine. none of my staff sergeants would listen to me. There was a gunny that was like, get my freaking car, I'm taking you because that's not okay. And it's like just the little things of taking a step back, actually listening. I don't care what you're doing with your schedule. If somebody's hurt, if there's something going on, if somebody has a bad day, if one of your junior marines is acting off for the day, you don't know what's going on in their life unless you listen. And you're not going to be successful as a leader if you don't listen because then they're not going to want to listen to you. And guess what? Your entire leadership ideal just fell. It just went straight out the window. So for me is as a junior Marine, I would always take a step back. I would look at the experiences I was going through. I would look at the experiences my fellow junior Marines were going through. And I took note of how leadership handled it, of how the way to correctly handle things per orders and things like that. And I used that to shape myself as I went through the ranks of corporal sergeant, staff sergeant. And by the end, by the time my time was done, it made me something where I would have Marines literally emailing me to put, they would email me like meeting requests and they would come to my office, sit on my couch in my office and just talk to me about stuff. My staffs aren't, can't help me with this. Can you please get me the answer? I have this going on at home. I don't know who to talk to. I have this going on. I don't want to be judged. I need to be, I need to talk to somebody. I need counseling, that kind of stuff. And for me, like forget the entire Marine concept. for me as a leader, for people to be comfortable enough to come sit in my office, for I had men crying in my office, like just for that stuff, for people to be comfortable enough with you as a leader to do that with you, I know I did something right along the way. And

Army Sherry: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: those little experiences that you take, you don't be judgmental, because I didn't want people to be judgmental of me as a junior, and I was making some crazy decisions. But I learned, you live, you learn, you continue on. I mean, it's my ideal or my mantra as a leader was I wanted to leave the Marine Corps better than I found it when it came my time to be a leader and it came my time to go and I truly do think I did that. I still have Marines today. I literally I was on base today I was at the PX and a Marine freaking ran me down in the hallway in the aisle of the PX and was like Sasson I just want you know we all miss you so much. Can I give you a call later this week? Yeah kid call me whatever you need. I still have I have Navy personnel that call me hey I need advice on how to handle this with the Marine. Here you go kid, you got this. I have army soldiers that from a base that I haven't been to in six years call me, hey, we have this ammunition problem with the Marine Corps, how would you fix it? Like just stuff like that. And it's like, when things like that happen, you know you did something right as a leader and you know you took the right pieces. So that's always been the thing. Pick what you want, pick what you don't

Laurie Trahan: Absolutely. Yeah. It's Yep.

Annika Lyon: want and carry it through.

Laurie Trahan: It speaks volumes when you are not working somewhere, whether it's civilian world, military, when people are still reaching out to you years later for advice and you know and saying, Hey, you know what, you really helped me and you're the person I trust the most, so I'm still gonna reach out to you. You know, that speaks volumes not only as you as a person and a woman, but also as a Marine. How you treated people is huge, you know, and and it shows in how you handle yourself with our community that we're creating. It shows when, you know, we hear these stories about you. And that's one of the things that I like about you, that you are fair to everybody. Everybody, you know, and you give everybody a chance and and that's that's important. And you don't treat anybody dumb, and that's really important because you know, some people, as we know, we'll get letters and and in the comments or even in our live, they'll say dumb question. There is no dumb question. You don't learn unless you ask and you go to the person that is actually teaching you those things, you know? Okay, so one more question before we wrap up this episode today. If you could sit down with your younger self the day you left for boot camp, what advice would you give her and what do you think she would be most proud of today as you are now a veteran?

Annika Lyon: If I could go back to September 6, 2016 and talk to little Monica, as I love to call her, little Monica, my biggest thing is stop listening to others. Stop being timid. Stop listening to others. You're always going to have somebody that's going to say you can't do it. You're always going to have somebody that's questioning you, whether it's a male or female military or not. There's always someone in your life that's going to be questioning you. And you're always Also gonna have somebody always in your corner rooting for you. don't care if I've met you through TikTok, I promise you I'm rooting for you. I don't care that we don't live in the same area. I promise you there's somebody out there rooting for you, somebody you came across. And so for little Anika, my biggest thing is like, do you, be you and just own it. Because a lot of the times I found myself shrinking or altering who Anika is to fit the groups around me, especially as a... before the Marine Corps and then Junior Marine, Annika used to do that a lot because I thought that I, it wasn't okay to be who I am. I'm a dork as these two ladies know. Like I am a silly, goofy dork, but I take my business seriously. And so one thing I wish I could tell myself is like, bootcamp's gonna teach you who you are as a Marine. That's the one thing they're gonna do. But if you look into bootcamp, and then a year after boot camp, two years after boot camp. I just want to tell little me, it's okay to be you and it's okay to own it and it's okay to push harder. Cause I wish somebody would have been there to tell me you can want more from life. You can want to push yourself. It's okay to be able to go above and beyond. You don't have to stay in your shell. You don't have to stay comfortable. You truly don't have to do anything that is something that you think is just staying in your lane. If there's something you want, go for it. If there's something you want to do. make it happen. And that's one thing I wish I would have had somebody tell me as a kid because I was so used to staying in my lane, doing what I needed to do, helping others, all the things. But when it comes to your adult life, it is truly what you make it. Forget what you learned as a kid. Yes, you were things were instilled in you and you became the person you were at 18. But your adult life from there on board, your decisions, it's all about you and what you want it to be. It's your life is what you make it at that point. And if you want it to be amazing and challenging and fun and this crazy thing, go for it. Take it. Don't shrink yourself because you think that that's what others want. And so that's what I would tell little Monica, go on a bootcamp, own it, do the thing, run the shit. Excuse my French and just, just go for it. And I, I think it took me a couple of years to learn that, but it is why I am the way I am today. If I want something, I go for it. And I'm thankful I learned that somewhere else.

Laurie Trahan: That's really powerful.

Army Sherry: Would you think little I was gonna say, would you think little Annika looking at it if you could look back, w what'd she think of who you have become today?

Annika Lyon: Wadolonica would probably be shocked. Like shocked, shook. As I said earlier in our text, shooketh.

Laurie Trahan: Ha ha ha.

Annika Lyon: Think about Wadolonica. mean, the relationships I had to look up to and things like that, I never wanted to be married. I never wanted to have kids. I just wanted to make the world better and then call it a good day whenever my time came to exit. And now I have this tiny little human life I'm in charge of. I at one point had 120 Marines under me as Staff Sergeant line. I was running a whole ammunition supply point as a sergeant because my OIC wasn't there. Like things like that is something Little Monica never Little Monica was a hostess at a restaurant called Elmer's like and she was comfortable. She loved it. She loved the drama. She loved the restaurant space. I would go scream in the fridge every so often. Do I still do that today in my adult life? Yes, I go sit in the garage and I'll let out a scream if I need to. But at same time, like little Annika, like who the heck is this woman and how did she get there? Because a lot of the times I was told being small was the answer. Being small means you snuck through, you just got through it. I'm not here to just get through it. I'm here to do it. And so that's one thing about me now as a woman. looking at little Annika who, you know, thought she was a big bad woman, but good God she was not, is like... Kid, I wish you would have just figured that out sooner, but at the same time, I'm proud of you for taking the lessons you were handed and building it into what you have today. Because if I wouldn't have done that, then I wouldn't have anything I have right now. So I'm beyond thankful for all of the lessons, all of the challenges, everything that brought me to this today. Because I wouldn't be sitting here right now with you women. I wouldn't be sitting here being able to talk about this. I probably wouldn't have even made it that far in the Marine Corps if I would have just stayed going through the motions. Once you grab the bull by the horns, it's your life. You go for it.

Laurie Trahan: it that's it I like that don't shrink for anything you know let

Annika Lyon: Mm-hmm.

Laurie Trahan: yourself grow and I and I'm still gonna go back to you saying that challenge pushed you outside your comfort zone and look where it brought you. Don't stay out inside your comfort zone. You don't grow inside that comfort zone. Push yourself outside it as far outside of it as you can so you can grow to be the person that you are absolutely meant to be. You were meant to be a Marine and you are meant to help guide this community. And I think that you are right where you belong right now, you know, growing as a woman and as a Marine and helping the people that you wanna help. And we appreciate you. We thank you for your service.

Annika Lyon: Thank you. I'm happy to be here. So for all of my lovely women that listen to this in the future and all of you that have women service members within your family, I left a few links down at the below that are fantastic for active duty. It doesn't matter what branch. I don't care if you're a Marine, Navy, Army, Space Force, whatever you want, whatever you are. The links below are little tips, tricks, opportunities, possibilities, financial assistance, things along those lines that can be very helpful. There's a few in there that help with veterans post service. So please, if you need anything, you can look at those links or feel free to reach out. I know all of our socials will be listed below as well. Feel free to inbox any of us. And I mean, if I don't answer. Y'all can inbox Lori. know, she texts me every day with questions. So if I don't see your message for some reason, she's gonna make sure I see it. please feel free to message us all down below. Another thing that we would like to touch on is we don't want to just highlight who's in the box is talking. We want to highlight your service members. So one thing we would want to do, we mentioned this in the last episode, is a military member spotlight. So our camel and crayons email is listed below. If you would like to

Army Sherry: Okay.

Annika Lyon: have a shout out for your service member, I'm working on building a form we'll put in there and we will go over your service member, what they've done, thank them for their service and make sure they are appreciated because what they do is amazing. So if you want your service member highlighted and it's spotlighted and all of the goodies that they deserve. Please feel free to send it to that email and we will make sure that your service member is recognized throughout our episodes.

Laurie Trahan: Awesome. So I know we weren't going to spotlight anybody, but we actually are going to today, we are gonna spotlight our very own Annika Lyons, Staff Sergeant Lion. And Miss Sherry's got something to say.

Annika Lyon: no.

Army Sherry: Okay, I'm gonna try to get through it without crying. And

Annika Lyon: Don't make me cry.

Army Sherry: wherever I stop, Lori, you can pick up.

Laurie Trahan: Okay.

Army Sherry: Annika is a marina at heart. a hundred percent. Simplify is just a saying. It's her personality. Anika has one of the biggest hearts you'll ever find. She's she's loved by everyone, lucky enough to know her. She'll fight for your the people she loves. And if it means standing on a desk. She will do

Annika Lyon: you

Army Sherry: that. So if you don't want that, push that dusk away. she's got sass for days and comebacks for everything and wit so quick you don't realize you've been roasted until she's walked away. Now she's off to Japan ready for sorry now she's off to Japan ready to love on those military kiddos and make a difference in wherever she is planted. We already know those kids are about to gain the coolest bonus mom around. Alright, Lori, you can just start that.

Laurie Trahan: Okay, she calls us mom and auntie, but let's be honest, she saved us just as much as we have saved her. She's family, she's fierce, and she's always has a place in our heart. We love you, Annika. Keep being bold, loud, loving and unapologetically, you. Jaban has no idea what's coming, but they're about to find out. we love you. We're so happy that you are a part of this community and you know, I appreciate you, your service and what you do for all of these families.

Annika Lyon: you guys.

Laurie Trahan: Mm-hmm.

Annika Lyon: You snuck that in there on me?

Laurie Trahan: We certainly did. That's why we're older. We

Annika Lyon: Okay.

Laurie Trahan: get to s we know how to do those things. Sneak it over our kids. We love you too. All right. So

Annika Lyon: y'all plotted. I love you guys. Y'all, I love you and you're plotting. Thank you. I appreciate it.

Army Sherry: Love you.

Laurie Trahan: this is our second episode. I want you guys to like, follow, share, subscribe, tell everybody about this. If you have any subjects that you want us to touch on, please email us. Like Annika said, they'll be down in the show notes. our email address, just send us an email and we'll be happy to discuss any subjects that you want us to discuss. And if you would like to be a guest, if you're a service member, if you're a veteran, if you're a civilian that works with anybody in the military, feel free to send us an email also. But all right. Well have a great day. Thanks for joining us.