From Service to Service: A Veteran's Journey to the Red Cross

by Dan Dowling, regional communications manager 

 

“I didn't know who I fully was until I became a Red Crosser. There's something special about being able to harness that humanitarian within you.” 

Ashley St. Louis is a U.S. Army veteran and now the Disaster Workforce Engagement Manager for the American Red Cross of Northern New England. Her journey into service started unexpectedly. 

“I had no desire to join the military ever, but 9/11 happened, and it was something that made me say, ‘I have to do something about this,’” Ashley admits. 

Just two days after the terrorist attacks, at seventeen years old, Ashley enlisted in the Army. 

“I spent my 18th birthday in a foxhole on the rifle range becoming an expert marksman,” she recalls. 

Her path led her to become a medic at the base hospital at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, where for two years she cared for the families of deployed soldiers. After a pelvic fracture in 2005 led to a medical discharge, Ashley spent several years looking for a career that allowed her to feel that same connection that she had in the army.  

In 2018, Ashley started volunteering for the Red Cross. Less than a year later she became a full-time staff member, working as a disaster cycle services manager. 

“There was always something missing in my life, and I didn't realize it until I joined the Red Cross. It was the humanitarianism and that camaraderie that made military service and the Red Cross feel so similar,” Ashley says. 

For many, leaving the service means searching for the same sense of purpose and camaraderie that defined their time in uniform. Ashley said she has been able to find that as part of the Red Cross. 

“I've never been around a Red Crosser that's a stranger for more than 20 seconds. It was the same kind of camaraderie in the military. It’s that feeling that all these people have your back all the time,” she says. 

As a disaster workforce engagement manager, Ashley ensures volunteers have the tools and training they need to succeed when deployed to a disaster. She channels her experience as a veteran into empowering others. 

“I try to give every Red Crosser the platform that I was given: to be able to find where I'm truly going to make a difference. That gives them just as much passion in providing the mission as we get out of them being a part of it,” Ashley says. 

Working together towards a common, humanitarian purpose is the thread that ties her military past to her Red Cross present. She believes this shared mission is what makes the organization a perfect fit for other veterans. 

July 25th is National Hire a Veteran Day, a time to recognize the immense value veterans bring to the civilian workforce and to highlight the unique challenges they face when transitioning from military life. 

“Veterans bring a tremendous amount of value to any organization. Specifically at the Red Cross, veterans are already aligned with all our principles and values. Once you're in the service, those values are instilled in you,” she states. 

The American Red Cross has a long-standing commitment to the military community through our Service to the Armed Forces program, which offers support from the first day of enlistment through the transition to civilian life and beyond. 

Our workforce brings together individuals from all backgrounds, ready to meet challenges with compassion and resolve. We work together to accomplish extraordinary things every day. 

Ashley suggests that veterans searching for their next chapter consider becoming a part of the Red Cross. 

“They are going to feel that camaraderie, that battle buddy, that mission-driven focus.” 

Veterans can learn more about finding their next mission with the American Red Cross by visiting our careers page and using our Military Occupational Specialty Translator: redcross.org/careers.