Fort Huachuca, Arizona – In honor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, we will be featuring U.S. Army Garrison employees who bring diversity to their workforce.

Today’s spotlight is on Garrison Budget Analyst Anna Petersen, who works for the Department of Resource Management.

You could call Pietersen a rule-breaker or someone who isn’t afraid to defy tradition, but Pietersen only sees himself as a brave and independent person.

Growing up in Indonesia, she belonged to a very traditional Christian household. She was taught not to marry a foreigner, and as her second daughter, there was a tradition that she was not allowed to marry until her older sister had married first.

But Petersen said he dreamed of speaking fluent English as a child and vaguely knew he would eventually leave Jakarta and live in another country.

So when she met and fell in love with an American, she didn’t let rules, traditions, or the fact that her sister wasn’t married yet get in the way. She got married and moved first to Germany and then to Arizona. That was 25 years ago.

Looking through her wedding album, she remembered her family and her native traditions. “I had a big family,” she said. “And I think the whole town came to the wedding!”

She explained that a wedding in Jakarta is a full day event with lots of people, food and traditions. The wedding begins in the parents’ home, then moves to the government office, the church, and then the palatial wedding reception. Wedding couples are given money, rice bags and handmade shawls to wish them good luck and prosperity.

Petersen said she loves going through old photos and sharing them with others. She believes that sharing culture is what makes Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month so important.

“It’s good to remember where we came from, to show our culture and country,” she said. “The United States is made up of people from many different countries, and it’s good to show all the cultures. It’s inspiring. For example, people can see: [my] I look at the pictures and think, “Oh, Indonesia is so beautiful, maybe I should go there.” That’s what I felt when I saw the pictures of America, and that’s how I decided to come here! ”

Petersen explained that when she and her husband first moved to Arizona, she was a stay-at-home mom. Eventually, she started working with her MWR.

“I worked there for two years, then joined the military bank and worked there for 16 years,” she said. “And this year will be my third year working at this office.

“It’s driving me crazy,” she said. “I have lived [in the U.S] It was longer than I lived in Jakarta. But now my roots are here. I have two girls, both of whom are in college. My kids are here and so is my job. I have more roots here than in my home country.

“Having said that, I feel very blessed to be here,” Petersen said. “No one in my family left Indonesia. God has given me a lot of strength. I have.”

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Fort Huachuca is home to the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence, U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Army Signal Command, and supports over 48 tenants representing a diverse and multidisciplinary workforce. Our unique environment includes 946 square miles of restricted airspace and 2,500 square miles of protected microwave ovens, which are critical elements of our national defense mission.

Located in Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, about 25 miles north of the Mexican border, Fort Huachuca is a frontier military installation with a rich history. Founded in 1877, the fort was designated a national landmark in 1976.

We are the home of the Army.Learn more about https://home.army.mil/huachuca/.