Tucson mother loses 100 pounds to join Army

By Carol Ann Alaimo - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Nov 26, 2010 12:57:11 EST
  
TUCSON, Ariz. — Stacey Bussard used to swoon with envy each time one of her children joined the military.
Like them, she yearned to wear the uniform of her country. But a mountain of flesh stood in the way.
As it turns out, Bussard is a woman who can move mountains.
On Monday, the Tucson native, who lost nearly 100 pounds to be able to enlist, was sworn into the service by her father, a retired military officer.
A few hours later, she shipped out for basic training, the first step in becoming an Army combat medic.
“I’ve been waiting for this all my life!” said Bussard, 41, who has seven children in a blended brood with husband David Bussard, a former soldier. The couple also has a year-old grandchild.
Three of their offspring are active-duty military, including one on his second tour in Iraq. And both of Stacey Bussard’s parents are former medics, now retired from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
Once packing 292 pounds on her 5-foot-8 frame, Bussard wasn’t sure she’d be able to trim down enough to pass an Army fitness test before her 42nd birthday, the current cutoff age for enlistment.
“There were a lot of times I doubted myself. It was a challenge to keep going,” she said of the feat that shrank her from a size 28 to size 12.
She needed to drop 95 pounds to meet Army standards, and has since dropped another 15 for a total loss of 110 pounds.
As the child of Air Force parents, Bussard grew up seeing military service as a noble calling.
During her days at Rincon High School in the 1980s, she fully intended to enlist after graduation.
Instead, she quit school, got married and had her first child at 17.
Along the way, she gained 100 pounds that stuck around for more than 20 years, through divorce, remarriage and more births.
“I didn’t watch what I ate. I didn’t exercise. Like a lot of women, I put everyone else before myself,” she said. “I thought I was going to spend my life being heavy. I couldn’t cross my legs. I couldn’t sit on the floor to play with the kids. It was pretty miserable.”
Her dream of a military career seemed all but dead. But it roared back to life at age 40 when one of her daughters joined the Army.
“I told my husband I’d always wanted to do that and he said, ‘Well, why don’t you?’ ” she recalled.
“I said, ‘I’ve got too much weight to lose,’ and he said, ‘If you put your mind to it, you can do anything.’ “
So Bussard, who had never attempted a diet, decided to put her mind to it to see what might happen.
She bought the “Biggest Loser” book, based on the popular television weight-loss show, and followed its advice.
“I started eating natural food. I kept bowls of fresh fruit on the counter and fresh vegetables in the fridge.”
And she started exercising six days a week, initially at a snail’s pace.
“At first I could only walk for 15 minutes, very slowly. Now I can run a mile in 10 minutes and 18 seconds.”
For months, few people besides her spouse knew what Bussard was up to.
She kept her goal quiet in case she failed, and only told her parents, midtown residents Gary and Margo Parker, once the Army deal was sealed.
“It was a total shock,” said Margo, who works for a medical software firm. “I knew she’d always wanted to go into the military. It was all she talked about as a kid. But I didn’t see this coming at all.”
When Bussard asked her father, a former Air Force captain who now works at Tucson Medical Center, to swear her into the service, her mother burst into tears.
“It’s like she’s following in our footsteps,” Margo said. “We’re very, very proud of her.”
Bussard’s Army recruiter is proud, too.
“At first, I was skeptical,” said Staff Sgt. Javier Najera.
Most of his overweight recruits have 20 or so pounds to lose, he said.
“As time went on, I could see how determined she was. It’s not every day you see that kind of enthusiasm.”
Bussard, who moved to Casa Grande with her husband and kids a few years back, said they plan to relocate to wherever the Army sends her. Two of their children, ages 13 and 16, are still at home.
A year or so down the road, she faces the likelihood of overseas deployment — something she says she’s ready for when the time comes.
“Being from a military family, that’s something we’re all familiar with. It comes with the job.”
For now, she’s looking forward to a more immediate milestone: her first Army uniform.
“If there’s one thing I can’t wait for, it’s to put that uniform on,” she said. “When they hand it to me, I’ll be, like, ‘Yes!’ It will mean my dream has finally come true.”