PHOENIX — After finding her purpose in the U.S. Army, Amanda Tallman will serve as one of eight Grand Marshals at the Phoenix Veterans Day Parade on Saturday.
Tallman set out to find her life purpose the day she enlisted in the United States Army back in 2007.
"I was 19 when I joined the Army, so I was a baby,” Tallman said. “My parents were like ‘You did what?’ And I was like, ‘No, I'm going into the Army and I'm leaving this week.’"
After training, Tallman courageously deployed to Afghanistan for 15 months, where she was soon placed on a list of firsts for women in the military.
"I was a Mark-19 gunner," Tallman said.
The MK19 is a fully automatic grenade launcher that fires 40 mm grenades at up to 375 rounds per minute.
"At that point, the law was that women weren't allowed in combat, but I was attached to an infantry unit,” Tallman told ABC15.
Shortly after her return from Afghanistan, Tallman battled and beat thyroid cancer.
Never giving up on finding her life's purpose, Tallman kept working hard, earning her undergraduate degree at Chadron State College.
She was later commissioned as a Military Intelligence Officer in the Army Reserves in Arizona, but an injury lead to a medical retirement, something Tallman now sees as part of a bigger plan from above.
"That was really powerful for me, because not only did I get my Bachelor's Degree, I got my Master's Degree in Social Work from Arizona State University," Tallman said.
Focused on trauma-responsive care, Tallman founded her own charitable organization, First Page.
"First Page is the nonprofit that I started in 2020 after my team leader had died from suicide. I had a friend who said, ‘Our last page doesn't define us," Tallman said.
First Page is an organization that allows veterans to serve as role models for kids, working with horses in a safe mentoring environment.
"I think it's really, really powerful when we have those connections," Tallman said. "And it doesn't matter if you're a child. It doesn't matter if you're aging and close to death, and everything in between. We all need to know that we are here and that we matter."