WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Ashley Chambless never planned to become a Marine.
She was a high school senior in Polk County when her best friend dared her to talk to a recruiter. One week later, she enlisted.
On Oct. 15, 2001, just five weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Chambless shipped out to boot camp as the country was preparing for war.
Chambless went on to serve four years in the U.S. Marine Corps, with assignments in Twentynine Palms, California, and Okinawa, Japan.
At the time, women made up a small share of the Marine Corps.
After returning home from military service, Chambless used the GI Bill to put herself through nursing school.
She spent two years working in an intensive care unit, but began to worry she had chosen the wrong profession.
That changed while caring for a 29-year-old patient who needed end-of-life care.
Chambless helped the patient die with dignity and helped the woman’s mother say goodbye.
That experience helped Chambless find her calling.
Today, Chambless serves as manager of Empath Health’s newly opened hospice care center in Winter Haven.
The eight-bed inpatient unit serves the same Polk County community where she grew up.
Chambless does not always lead with her military background, but it continues to shape the way she connects with patients.
In one case, a dying Marine refused medication to help manage his pain.
Chambless sat beside him and appealed to him as a fellow Marine, asking him to trust her.
He agreed, and the medication brought him comfort and relief.
As Chambless stepped out of the room, he called her back and said, “Semper Fi.”
The date marks the anniversary of President Harry Truman signing the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, which gave women the right to serve permanently in the U.S. military.
For Chambless, service did not end when she left the Marine Corps. It changed form.
Her work now centers on helping patients and families through some of life’s most difficult moments.
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