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For most of her 24 years of marriage, Lyndi Ramos has been the caregiver for her husband, Gene, as his health deteriorated and the physical problems linked to his service in the U.S. Army morphed into mental health challenges. A Pillars of Strength Scholarship will enable Ramos to turn some attention to her future.

“Witnessing Gene’s struggles and limitations firsthand can be heartbreaking,” said Ramos, who is one of this year’s recipients of the scholarship that provides full tuition toward a degree program at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC). “It requires a great deal of patience, empathy and understanding to provide the care and support he needs while maintaining my own well-being.”

Gene Ramos II had counted on a military career to get ahead in life after growing up in a family of factory and field workers. He enlisted in the Army in the early 2000s. But just two years into his career, his life was turned upside down when he was part of Army training missions at Fort Polk—now Fort Johnson—to prepare soldiers after the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

“It was just weeks and weeks of live fire training, weekend training and just craziness,” Ramos said of her husband’s experience. Gene Ramos broke his hip and then was involved in chemical operations with the Army. By the time he left the military, he was suffering from kidney failure. 

The ensuing health challenges—more than a dozen ailments—led to mental health problems and left Gene struggling even still to understand how his life unraveled as it did, Ramos said. Convincing the Veterans Administration that the 20-year-old man suffered from kidney failure was difficult, and Ramos had a hard time qualifying as an official caregiver. Her husband is now retired from the military on 100 percent disability, and the couple has been busy raising three daughters and a son, aged 23 to 12. 

Ramos also has built her own career as an educator. She holds an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s degree in education. Much of her work has been as a behavioral specialist in public education, focusing on intervention with children and adults facing discipline issues. More recently, she has been involved in Child and Youth Programs at Child Development Centers on military bases. 

In December, she accepted a position with the Navy as the child development director for Child and Youth Programs at Naval Station Rota on the Mediterranean Sea. There, she said, the Spanish naval base shares its facilities with U.S. military forces who collaborate on missions. Hundreds of American families live there, and they require services to ensure their children are safe and learning while their parents are serving.

To take on the directorship role, Ramos needed to take several business management courses. She decided to pursue an MBA, even though she knew it would be financially challenging. That’s where the Pillars of Strength Scholarship comes in.

“I like school. I took classes off and on, taking breaks from all the craziness of life throughout most of my life,” Ramos said. “I really wanted to do the whole MBA and not just part of it if I could.  Affording the degree would have been tough. The Pillars scholarship makes it all good.”