SPRINGFIELD, IL - Deployments can change the life of a Soldier, but the prospect of a deployment may have saved the life of a female Soldier from Central Illinois.
Although risk is an unavoidable part of being a Soldier, the Army has developed a concerted effort to minimize it through education and safety measures.
Unfortunately for Army Sgt. Kristina R. Melton, a member of the 1344th Transportation Company in East St. Louis, the thing that threatened her health and safety is not something that a field manual could have prepared her for. While undergoing a health examination as she prepared for a mobilization with the 1644th Transportation Company in Rock Falls, Melton discovered she had cervical pre-cancer cells.
"When the doctor told me I was going to miss the deployment I was hurt," Melton said. "I was upset. I thought, 'great, my husband is going to deploy without me again and I am going to be stuck at home.' So it was really sad and I was bawling."
Melton's husband, Army Sgt. Chris Melton, also with the 1344th Transportation Company, planned to deploy with her by joining the 1644th, but decided against it in light of the diagnosis.
"It was a blessing in disguise," Chris said. "If Kristina wouldn't have been set to deploy, it would have been months before she would have had her checkup and her medical condition could have gotten worse."
Although the condition is serious, Melton did not allow it to have control of their future.
"We are planning on having another child, so once we do that she plans on having the hysterectomy and then the cervical cancer issue won't be an issue anymore," Chris said.
In addition to having another child, Kristina expects to retire from the Illinois Army National Guard. She said both treating her condition and having a hysterectomy have a very quick recovery period and would not affect her career like some other health issues would.
Melton has earned the respect of her peers and superiors through all of this as well.
"I think it speaks a lot to her character and the kind of person she is," said Army Capt. Matthew P. Wood, the 1344th company commander. "She knows that she has some things going on in her life that are outside the Army, but she knows that she can overcome those and that they are only temporary. The pride that she has and the things that she wants to do for the military are going to last a lot longer than that."
It is Melton's goal to get the word out about cervical cancer awareness and women's health issues.
"It happens and I prefer for most women to understand that it can happen to them no matter what age they are," Kristina said.
With the number of women in the military increasing over the past half century, women's health is a topic that is increasingly relevant. Although occupational safety and mission safety are instructed at a high level, Melton would like to be a reminder of how much health safety should be stressed.
"There are women out there that don't get their Pap smears done when they should and they're missing out on stuff like this," Kristina said. "If this isn't caught, then there's not a lot the doctors can do. It is life threatening. It can kill you if you go untreated."
Female Soldiers can look to Melton as someone who has benefitted from the preventative health tests and to find the courage to do the same.
"The dangers of not being checked out are much worse than the discomforts of having the examinations," Kristina said.