Growing up in what felt like a small town, Grable wasn’t shown any resources to help her continue her education through college. So when a navy recruiter came to her high school, she saw it as a fantastic opportunity. “I had only been out of state 2 or 3 times, so this sounded like a wonderful adventure,” Grable explains. “The Navy really was a destiny for me.”
Stationed for 2 years in Iceland before the internet or cell phones were commonplace, Grable experienced life completely disconnected from her family back home. “Calls always got cut off so many times during those months, and it taught me always to make sure I said ‘I love you,’” she recalls. “I was having the time of my life then, but I didn’t realize the perspective of my family having an empty seat at the time and having to go on with life without me.”