Judge Julia Jent is known throughout Northwest Indiana for her devotion to the Veterans Court program, which identifies underlying causes for veteran arrests and finds alternatives to prison. Every Memorial Day, she takes the time to speak to others about honoring those who have served.
Jent, in fact, is a veteran herself, who has come a long way to get to where she is at now.
Jent was born in Germany and adopted by a military couple. She came to America in 1957, where she quickly joined the service.
“The day I turned 18, I signed up for the Army. I had no job skills or training. I got my GED and got into the military that way,” Jent said.
She completed her basic training in Alabama with the Women’s Army Corp, which trained separately from the men. From there, she got her MRS training as a medic at Fort Sam Houston.
After her training, she worked at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis hospital in maternity ward delivering babies for GIs.
“They gave us a battery of tests and decided what we would be good at. They were so wrong! The medical field was not my forte. I did not do well at the hospitals in the general wards and surgeries. In the maternity ward, I did great because most of them were happy times.”
Jent met her husband Jack, of almost 50 years now, at Fort Benjamin Harrison after he came back from serving as a medic in Vietnam.
“His experiences in Vietnam really help me understand, with my Veterans Court, what some of our older veterans are going through even still today. “
Her time in the military is looked back upon fondly, because the core values that the military instills in soldiers are ones that benefited her in the future.
“I really believe that doing some time in the military is really a good thing for everyone. It teaches you discipline, self-respect, respect for others, loyalty, and patriotism. It’s a great growing process. Coming out, I learned to be self-sufficient, that I could depend on myself and you really learn how to cover someone’s back and what friendship really is.”
After her time in the military, Gent worked at the steel mills and floated around, not quite sure what she wanted to do. She started with adult education classes at Portage High School. She got her undergrad degree at Indiana University Northwest, and her law degree at Valparaiso University.
Memorial Day is a special day for everyone in her family. Having a son and daughter who fought in Desert Storm, parents who served and her husband and herself being veterans, it is a really special time.
“Memorial Day really gets to us both emotionally. It is the one day that you really think back at all that has served. Where else in the world can you be poor, no education, and do what I did and end up here? What other country can you do that? I am living the American Dream. When you are born in America, you already know those dreams are possible, but for someone like me coming over here, talk about dreaming. To realize that if you work hard, really want something and reach for it, there are no barriers you cant overcome.”
Times have really changed for women who serve our country. Progress is being made where it should be made, and more and more women are following their calling into service.
“Times for women in service are different now. When I served, we had separate barracks and training. We did not go into combat zones or were able to apply for Ranger or Green Beret. There is such a difference now, and they are good differences. If anyone wants to serve, they should be able to.”
Julia Jent has gone above and beyond to honor those who have served and to continue to find ways to help veterans. On this Memorial Day, we honor her service to our country.