This year at Oshkosh North High School, the guest speaker for the 2024 Veteran’s Day Assembly was far from a stranger. Many in the crowd already knew her as Sara Klein, one of North’s English teachers.

 But before she was a teacher, she served in the United States Army. 

Klein spoke of her journey throughout the navy, the friendships she made, and the friends she lost. The lesson she learned through the army was clear: Freedom is not free, it’s fought for.

“One thing I learned from the army is that freedom is not free,” Klein said. It’s nourished through the sacrifice of soldiers, through blood, tears, loss of limbs, loss of comrades, being far from home so you’re missing births, deaths, and everything in between.”

On August 9, 1992, 17 year-old Klein made her oath to the United States Army Reserves. In January of 1996, she was deployed to Bosnia Herzegovina on the “Operation Joint Endeavor”, working with the Red Cross and United Nations (UN). In 1997, Klein served in Germany and returned to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, as part of drill sergeant training. She graduated from Drill Sergeant training in 1999. 

As the only female Drill Sergeant in her area, Klein had to prove herself far more than her male peers.

“Our job was we’d go down to Fort Benning and take over a basic training battalion, and we’d take over for the drill sergeants for about two weeks. Every single time, we all had this, even the guys, had to prove that they were decent,” she said. “But there were no other female drill sergeants at Fort Benning, and so I had to prove myself triple. I would be working days straight just to prove that I was worthy.” 

During her time in her army, she found joy in her friends, and the memories made together. 

“All of the friendships I made, all of the fun things we [army friends] did together, that was what made the army a lot of fun,” Klein said.

Through her numerous years of service, she learned to cherish people close to her. In 2008, Klein’s close friend from the army, Todd, died in service.

“Cherish the people you’re close to. We all know people are going to die, that is the natural order of things, but in the military it’s more front and center. I’ve had a few soldier friends die. Todd was probably the most inspirational because we were really close, but it’s never easy and it can happen at any moment in the military.”

After her 13 years of service, Klein decided not to re-enlist in the army in October of 2005 to follow her dreams of being a mother. She ended up adopting her first child in April of 2005.