×

Resident celebrates July 4 by re-enlisting

Instead of playing dolls, Elizabeth Hagen, 30, grew up shooting guns with her father, Paul.

A Bedford resident and Manchester High School West graduate, Hagen knew at the age of 6 that she would serve her country in one capacity or another.

“As a child, I pictured her with long brown curls, but we got the blonde curls. Instead of cello case, she carried a rifle case. She did play the cello, but she preferred the guns,” Hagen’s mother, Pam Hagen said of her daughter, who enlisted in the Navy after high school. “In college, other girls were calling home talking about their college dances ,and she was calling home saying she was M-16 qualified.”

The dream to serve her country was influenced by her grandfather, who served 27 years in the Army.

Hagen realized that dream for the fourth time on June 10, when she signed her re-enlistment papers to serve her a four-year stint in the Navy as a chief petty officer, just in time to celebrate Independence Day. Hagen has already served two six-year terms in the Navy, and she credits her family, friends and faith for helping her to achieve her goals.

Hagen chose to sign her re-enlistment papers on the oldest commissioned warship in the world, the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor.

Part of the re-enlistment included a private and intimate tour of the restricted zone of the USS Constitution. Dressed in full Navy whites, Hagen signed the official papers in the captain’s office of the ship.

“It was a pretty emotional ceremony,” her father, Paul Hagen said.

Cmdr. Bill Kramer, stationed in Newport, R.I., performed the re-enlistment honors and spoke briefly about the decision Hagen was about to make. “Honor, courage and commitment are the things that a chief exemplifies,” he said. “In order to be a chief you have to be able to live those principles.”

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Bedford congregation, Hagen has grown up with moral values instilled within her.

Her faith in Jesus Christ has helped her through many difficult situations, she said.

“It is really easy to say no to pressures in the Navy,” she said. “I was taught not to drink and smoke when I was younger and it is still easy to say no now at 30.”

“For 12 years, she has worked in top secret operations all over the world including Europe and the Middle East countries,” Pam Hagen said.

Hagen has no problem living the core value of courage either.

“Courage falls into everything, you have to have courage to have commitment and honor to have integrity,” she said. “I absolutely have no problem doing the right thing regardless of who I am saying it to. I have no problem standing up for what
it is right, and how I go about doing it is just as important.”

Now heading to Bahrain for an 18 month mission, it takes a lot of family support as well, she said.

“Just knowing that I have a strong family back home, I have faith in my family and trust them, I don’t fear they will empty my back account when I am away from home,” she said with a smile. “Anything I will need, they will provide it. Occasionally, things happen like a damaging wind storm when I was deployed from Georgia, my mom got in touch with the Boy Scouts who cleaned up my entire house and yard that was impacted; it was a big blessing.”

She has been reminded again and again to be intelligent with her choices, she said.

“In my profession, there are top-notch security clearances,” she said. “You have to have value system that is set properly. Family values are valuable in every field of service. Our country has 20-year-old kids running million-dollar weapon systems, and you want to make sure they are being smart about it. The military invests a lot of money into their members and want to make sure that it isn’t wasted.”