{"id":5798,"date":"2021-04-14T21:15:38","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T21:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=5798"},"modified":"2021-04-15T21:27:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T21:27:50","slug":"behind-the-uniform-spc-jameka-sledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2021\/04\/14\/behind-the-uniform-spc-jameka-sledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Uniform: Spc. Jameka Sledge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Spc. Christina Chang, 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Six Flags America amusement park in Bowie, Maryland, was converted to a drive-through mass vaccination site in February in 2021, it\u2019s visitors were attended by blue-gowned nurses and camouflage-uniformed Soldiers instead of the park\u2019s usual staff. Since vaccination operations began at the center, Service members from the Maryland Army National Guard worked around the clock to improve operations to support vaccination efforts.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Spc. Jameka Sledge, military police, 200th Military Police Company, works in support of the state’s COVID-19 operations at the Six Flags America mass vaccination site on April 7, 2021.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spc. Jameka Sledge, a military police with the 200th Military Police Company, enlisted into the MDARNG in April, 2020, and started working at the site in February, just two weeks after she graduated from her initial entry training. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spc. Jameka Sledge, military police, 200th Military Police Company, works in support of the state’s COVID-19 operations at the Six Flags America mass vaccination site on April 7, 2021. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI joined the National Guard because I was looking for a way to be a part of something bigger than myself. I always wanted to work in law enforcement,\u201d Sledge said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sledge mentioned  she grew up in a low-income neighborhood in North Carolina,  which helped her understand  the importance of increasing the accessibility of medical services to everyone, regardless of their background. Her upbringing also influenced her career decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe area I grew up in, [there] wasn\u2019t many opportunities there for people to branch out,\u201d said Sledge. \u201cI wanted to be in a position where I could give back to my community and help those that needed help.\u201d   <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Joining the MDARNG helped pay for her undergraduate degree. During one of her short breaks, Sledge was working on a paper that would help her apply for graduate school with a concentration in Intelligence Studies. Her ultimate career goal is to either join the Baltimore Police Department or the D.C. Metropolitan Police.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis [COVID-19] shot, it\u2019s saving many people\u2019s lives and they\u2019re happy to be here and they\u2019re grateful that we\u2019re here,\u201d Sledge said. So, it brings me enjoyment to see how many people we can get through a day.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Six Flags America amusement park in Bowie, Maryland, was converted to a drive-through mass vaccination site in February in 2021, it\u2019s visitors were attended by blue-gowned nurses and camouflage-uniformed Soldiers instead of the park\u2019s usual staff. Spc. Jameka Sledge, a military police with the 200th Military Police Company, enlisted into the MDARNG in April, 2020, and started working at the site in February, just two weeks after she graduated from her initial entry training.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":5802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[913,145,959],"class_list":["post-5798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-i-am-the-mission","tag-covid","tag-maryland-army-national-guard","tag-six-flags-america-maryland"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5798"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5918,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5798\/revisions\/5918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}