February 2005 -- U.S. Army Capt. Jennifer Blatty has commanded troops, moved men and machinery, and cleared land mines in foreign combat zones.
This 27-year-old veteran of two wars – Iraq and Afghanistan – now plans to help others do battle on the tennis court as a newly certified member of the United States Professional Tennis Association.
Jenn Blatty, who’s still on active military duty, said she had her eye on joining USPTA since she was a student at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (N.Y.). She wanted to coach and always felt that a teaching pro needed to become certified.
She had never, on the other hand, given any thought to attending West Point when she was a junior player. She didn’t even know what West Point was before a recruiter saw her play in an 18s tournament. Moreover, she had almost quit tennis because she had had a bad season and was feeling the pressure of competition, but her mother convinced her to play one more tournament.
Blatty, whose many interests as a New Orleans teenager included playing on the high school soccer team and “hanging out with friends,” laughs when asked if she had planned a military career. She says no, “Some things just happen.”
She “wanted to try something different” and figured West Point would provide a good opportunity to play a top position on a Division I team. “I was not about to be a bench warmer anywhere,” she asserted.
Blatty admits to being “really competitive” on the tennis court. She is, after all, the daughter of former touring pro Linda Tuero, who faced the likes of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova and won the Italian Open in 1972.
Her father is novelist, screenwriter and producer William Peter Blatty. He won an Academy Award for the screenplay of his book “The Exorcist.” The younger Blatty said she would like to write a book one day and was considering going to art school before she was recruited by the Army.
Blatty, who started playing tennis at the age of 5 and once trained under the same coach as Chanda Rubin, did not warm any benches on the Army team.
The cadet attended West Point on a tennis scholarship and was team captain in her senior year. She broke the West Point record for No. 1 singles wins in a season as a freshman at the Military Academy, where she earned a degree in foreign languages and civil engineering in 2000.
In addition to leading her team to nationals two years in a row, she played in the All-Armed Forces Tennis Competition in 2001. Her team captured the title, and in the individual draws she won both singles and doubles.
Blatty said she also had a knack for teaching the game. Her college coach looked to her for help evaluating and motivating her teammates.
Now a Savannah, Ga., teaching pro, she hopes to soon start giving lessons part time, perhaps at a club, while still in the Army and to continue teaching part time after she leaves the military. Her aunt coached at Tulane University in New Orleans, and Blatty has considered coaching college tennis herself.
“It’s so fun to watch somebody progress; I really enjoy that,” she said. Improving as a player “gives you a confidence level that doesn’t apply just to sports; it applies to every part of your life. I’m a people person – I like helping people.”
Blatty now has a greater opportunity to help others through her military service. She recently was appointed rear detachment commander for the 92nd Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy), a construction unit of 500 to 600 troops, at Fort Stewart, Ga.
She is responsible for supervising the soldiers who stayed behind for various reasons, such as legal or medical issues, when her unit deployed to Iraq in late January. Her duties also include assisting the spouses and families of the men and women in her battalion.
Blatty would have been on her way out of the Army in March, using accumulated leave, and was scheduled to be discharged in May. But now she won’t be going anywhere until her unit returns from war – in about 12-18 months.
This is not the first time she has placed the call of duty above her personal plans. Blatty, who kick boxed for fun in high school and became the first female cadet on the all-male boxing team at West Point, was preparing for a career as a professional boxer. But two separate deployments interrupted her training.
The West Point graduate began serving as an officer – leader of a construction platoon – in November 2000. Ten months later the Sept. 11 attacks destroyed her expectations of being dispatched to Bosnia or Kosovo. In January 2002 she joined the war in Afghanistan.
“It was a shock for everybody,” she recalled. “At first I was scared. I was a female going into a combat zone, not knowing what to expect.
“Nobody likes war, but it’s more about just being a leader,” Blatty said. “I had 30 soldiers under me (as a platoon leader) – grown men older than me, from all different backgrounds. It was a huge responsibility, but it was gratifying.
“I like it because you’re taking care of your people, of your soldiers,” she explained, adding that it’s a learning and humbling experience. “It makes you appreciate everything you have. We didn’t even have showers when we first got there.”
Two months into her deployment, she was made executive officer of a company of about 130 soldiers. They were responsible for installing utilities in living areas on base, building guard towers for detainee facilities, and clearing widespread land mines with armored dozers. They also helped perform rapid runway repairs at Bagram Airfield.
When her company was sent home in August 2002, Blatty was responsible for moving the company and all its equipment, via 17 aircraft, out of Afghanistan.
In early 2003, before she could really get her life back together, Blatty was headed for Iraq. She was in charge of moving an entire battalion – about 500 soldiers and 250 pieces of equipment, including big vans and trucks – by ship into Kuwait.
The logistics officer then coordinated the drive to Iraq and led weekly convoys to Kuwait to pick up construction supplies. “You were definitely at the most risk if you were on the road; that’s where all the attacks happened,” she said. “The vehicles would break down, it was so hot. You can’t sit out there long. It’s a big, open desert.” But she said they were lucky and were never attacked.
In August 2003, after five months in Iraq, Blatty organized the equipment and troops for the return trip. “It was fun to send them home,” she said. And she will never forget the wartime camaraderie she shared with the soldiers as a platoon leader and “XO.”
After returning to the base in Georgia, Blatty worked as a logistics officer before taking on her current assignment as the rear detachment commander.
She also is preparing to go to physical therapy school after she leaves the military in a year or so. “I’ve become interested in human bodies and injuries because of the Army,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind working with an athletic team” (in addition to teaching tennis part time).
“I think winning or just playing well at a sport is so gratifying,” Blatty said. “I would love to develop other people if they want to play competitively.”
