CHARLESTON, W.Va. –
Capt. Caroline Muriama has traveled a long way to serve with the West Virginia Army National Guard (WVARNG), in both miles and life experience.
Born and raised in Kenya’s second-largest city, Mombasa, Muriama moved to Boston to attend college in 1997 to study nursing. Her family had always said if she worked hard, she could go to America, which she imagined from what she saw on television.
“I wanted to go there, where money grows on trees, where everybody is rich and has a very amazing life,” she said, laughing. “It was never in my plan to join the military. It was never on my radar.”
While at college, she befriended two Kenyan men; one who had just come back from U.S. Army Basic Combat Training (BCT), and the other who had just signed up to go.
“They were friends of mine, and would always joke, ‘you could never make it, you could never cut it!’” she said. “So, I jokingly told them, ‘Call your recruiter.’ Next thing I knew, the recruiter called me!”
And so began her journey in the National Guard.
“I couldn’t even ship to basic because I was overweight,” she remembers. “They put me on a diet for six months. I got to basic and I couldn't run a mile, I couldn't do a push-up.”
“And that’s where I met Drill Sgt. Spell. She would yell, ‘Kenya! You’re not special! I’m not gonna give you anything - You’ve got to earn it!’” Muriama said. “And I graduated basic and I got home, and my life’s never been the same.”
Muriama said her story is like many Guard members; not a straight line but a windy road that has led to many destinations never imagined. According to Muriama, the desire to choose to be better and take opportunities as they presented themselves has guided her along her career.
She has also had mentors who have offered advice during key points of her life.
“I’ve been fortunate,” she said. “I’ve had these great females along my career. Drill Sgt. Spell who gave me hell, but she really wanted to make me better. Then I had Capt. Christine Hoffman in Massachusetts, who mentored me and shaped my life in the Guard.”
Capt. Hoffman is now Col. Hoffman, the first female to be appointed chief of staff in the Massachusetts Army National Guard (MANG).
“I have known Caroline for nearly 19 years - as her company commander (in Iraq) when she was an E-4, and as her battalion commander when she was a second lieutenant - and now I proudly call her a friend and a mentor,” said Hoffman. “If I had to describe in her in one word it would be inspirational.”
Hoffman said that Muriama inspires Soldiers and leaders at all levels of command, which Muriama says is a goal of hers as a leader.
“I want people to see me and say well, ‘she’s a hard worker. I want to be a hard worker.’ ‘She’s a good runner. I want to be a good runner,’” Muriama said. “I want to inspire. What I choose to do or not to do, where I choose to succeed or fail, is what defines me.”
The choice to move from Boston’s suburbs to rural West Virginia was a big choice, she said, but not a hard one.
After serving 14 years in the MANG as a combat medic, motor transport operator, and logistics planner for the MANG Homeland Response Force (HRF), and 126th Brigade Support Battalion, Muriama was recruited in 2014 by the WVNG to work logistics at the Army Interagency Training and Education Center (AITEC), the National Guard Bureau’s lead Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and high-yield Explosives (CBRNE) training program.
Muriama had frequently supported ATIEC during her four years as MANG HRF’s logistics planner and had built a solid relationship with the instructors and leadership at the unit.
While working full-time at AITEC, she assumed command of D 230th Forward Support Company, a part of the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment - the first female commander to have served in its ranks in the unit’s history.
“I didn’t even realize that until Lt. Col. (Clifford) Brackman mentioned it in my change of command,” she said. “I thought, you know, that’s cool, but it was just an opportunity that arose that I just couldn’t say no to. It was probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me.”
Today, Muriama is the WVNG’s 35th CERFP action officer full-time, where she is in charge of planning and coordinating all training and events for the 203-person team of Army and Air Guard members. She continues to drill with the 1/150th as the assistant operations officer after serving 27 months in command, then a year as squadron logistics officer prior to her new position.
Muriama said she doesn’t know what the future holds but plans to continue serving in West Virginia as long as she can and is happy she’s had this great opportunity to serve in the state.
“I’m a child of the world,” she said, laughing, “and West Virginia is now part of me.”
“It is such a great place to come and work,” she said. “It grows on you. The people here are great, and the community is special.”