Ranking Lieutenant Colonel Dionne Smalling

SHE believes in not letting your circumstances determine your outcome. As a result, despite the challenges and obstacles she had to endure along the way, this steadfast woman gradually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, making her the second woman in the history of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) to ever hold that position.

Raised in the deep rural farming community of Glenbrook, Westmoreland, Lieutenant Colonel Dionne Smalling, 44, told All Woman that ever since childhood she has always aimed to achieve excellence because of the reality she faced.

“We were very poor, but really proud. If we were hungry we couldn’t eat from [other] people. We couldn’t go to anybody’s house and say yes if they asked if we wanted food. I knew that, and part of that defined me,” she said.

As a result, at the age of eight when she left Glenbrook to live with her mother in Spaldings, Manchester, the values of dignity, self-respect and loyalty to family stuck with her. As such, it came as no surprise that after leaving Knox College, when her mother developed multiple sclerosis, she opted to work and care for her.

Later, while in a civilian post, she would interact with soldiers who did business with the company, and they helped her to understand what the JDF had to offer. She said that this, coupled with brochures on the JDF she had seen, piqued her interest and she applied.

As fate would have it, Smalling said it took her almost a year to get in, but because she wanted it so badly, she had faith and hoped for the best. The rest, as they say, is history.

“At Newcastle I didn’t think about what I had to do, I just knew I had to get through. I trained as an officer with an intake of over 100 men, and I was the only female. Though a lot was expected from me, it was really encouraging.

“I realised it was a whole new way of life, and the provisions that came with it would allow me a larger purview of Jamaica. What also appealed to me was that I would be doing something different, as I never wanted to be like everybody else. It would afford me a career to be different from the traditional woman, and that appealed to me.”

Now a part of the JDF for 24 years, Smalling, also a graduate of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, UK, has worked in the JDF Air Wing, Support Battalion, First Engineer Regiment and Information Technology departments before assuming her current role as senior staff officer with responsibility for finance and logistics at Headquarters.

She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science, tripled with a Master of Science in national security and strategic studies from the University of the West Indies, and a Master of Military Arts and Science degree in history and strategy from United States Command and General Staff College.

She credits her promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel to the other women in the JDF who paved the way for her.

“I was six months pregnant when I was promoted, so any talk of discrimination or inequality in the JDF — that puts that right to rest. I was as much a woman as I could be. But there were so many more outstanding women before me who proved women could do the work. Where I am today is a direct consequence of what women who served before me did — they paved the path so others could see that women were capable. I am deeply indebted to those women,” she said, adding that mentors such as Naval Captain Sydney Innis and Brigadier David Cummings have been a tremendous help.

Though she emphasises that there is no issue with equality in the JDF, she declares that outside of work she is passionate about women being seen as equal. She also hopes to pursue gender-related studies in order to help formulate policies that can advance women.

Besides the JDF, Smalling enjoys spending time with her family and going on excursions.

Also responsible for women’s affairs at JDF, Smalling prides herself on encouraging women to look beyond their circumstances and see challenges as ways to push themselves even harder.

“I say work hard, be kind and be positive. Also remember that it doesn’t matter where you started, you can achieve,” she said.