Ten years ago, Maj. Christine Youngquist left education for the Army.

She was a special education teacher in Florida, specializing in helping children with severe and profound retardation.  She enjoyed interacting with children, and helping them conquer every day tasks like feeding themselves and communicating.

After three years, Youngquist decided it was time to pursue a lifelong dream:  joining the Army like her father.  It's now or never, she thought, and at 26, made her move.

"I'm a late-bloomer," she joked last week at Fort Hood.

Youngquist is a test officer at West Fort Hood's U.S. Army Operational Test Command.  This is her second stop at Fort Hood, the first as a company commander in the 4th Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade.  Both times she has worked under Col. Donald MacWillie.

It was during a deployment from 2005 to 2007 to Iraq with the brigade that she met a warrant officer named John who worked across the hall.  The two had a lot in common, but because they were deployed, they couldn't date.  Instead, they did crossword puzzles together and talked.

They started dating after returning from Iraq and got married April 2008 in Florida.

Chief Warrant Officer-3 John Youngquist deployed for the third time in August, this time with the 1st Cavalry Division's headquarters.

In 1½ years of marriage, the Youngquists have lived together only three months.

"One day …," Christine said.

Though it was a hard decision to leave education, Youngquist said she will go back to teaching after retiring from the Army.

She is wiser now and has gained a sense of discipline and become more resourceful, she said of her time in the Army.

Youngquist's father was a field artillery officer, later retiring as an acquisition officer.  Her grandfather was also a field artillery officer.  The middle of three children, two of them male, Youngquist was the only to follow in her father's uniformed footsteps.

She started as a signal officer, later moving to acquisitions.  As a test officer she helps put new equipment into the hands of soldiers to make sure it does what it's supposed to do, she said.

Her lives in education and Army are similar in that she is constantly teaching and learning, she said.

Youngquist has been able to bridge her two careers through Adopt-a-School partnerships in the Army.  She is Operational Test Command's team leader in its partnership with Rancier Middle School.

The program helps the children get a sense of who soldiers are and what they do, Youngquist said.  Soldiers can enhance learning and knowledge and serve as mentors, she added.

Youngquist misses teaching and interacting with children.

"This enables me to still be a part of that," she said of the Adopt-a-School program.