Colonel Fansu Ku
Why She Stays
An Interview with Colonel Fansu Ku
By Specialist Ashley M. George
When Colonel Fansu Ku—a military judge in the Second Judicial Circuit—first joined the Army, she thought she would only serve for her three-year minimum obligation. Being the only member of her family to join the military, she had no idea what to expect when commissioning into the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Her initial impression of the Army was not what she had anticipated. She still remembers the discomfort she felt on the first day of her Officer Basic Course (OBC): having to be weighed in an assembly-like fashion and her weight being announced by the cadre for all to hear. She was already asking herself, “What have I done?” Her uncertainty about the Army lasted throughout OBC because it took her all twelve weeks of the course to pass the Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT).
It has now been twenty years since her OBC and she certainly no longer struggles with passing the APFT. She has completed twenty-eight marathons and thirty half marathons, and has run on all six of the main Hawaiian Islands. She has deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan and has had a diversity of assignments, working in everything from legal assistance to contract appeals. Some of her career highlights include Commissioner at the Army Court of Criminal Appeals; Deputy Staff Judge Advocate; Defense Appellate Division Branch Chief; and Military Judge.
Judge Ku has had a career she is truly proud of, but she never had a traditional five- or ten-year plan. She embraced every step of her career as a learning experience and thrived with every opportunity she was given, but throughout her career, she regularly asked herself if the Army was right for her and based her next move off of that self-reflection.
When I asked her what made the Army right for her, she had several reasons. The most influential reason was simple: her leaders. It was the leaders who took an interest in her personal growth and mentored her when she was a young officer who made all the difference in her decision whether to stay or leave. They gave her opportunities to grow, excel, and even inspired her to try new things, like running for fun and doing marathons.
I followed up with asking her the question of why she continues to stay in. The reason was even simpler: the robe. The robe necessitates that the right decisions be made and the right person make them. As she wears the robe, she is continually aiming at the legal proficiency and technical skill that the robe requires. She refuses to settle for anything less. Judge Ku certainly recognizes that sitting on the bench and presiding over courts-martial plays a significant role in our military justice system. She stays because she takes that role seriously and knows her job truly impacts people’s lives.
Judge Ku laughed in reflection of how quickly her twenty years has seemed to pass. She never forgets her early days in the Army, just how far she has come, and all the people who motivated her to get here. She stays in with the hope that, after years of being inspired, she can now inspire the next generation of legal professionals who need to be encouraged to stay and better themselves, the JAG Corps, and the Army.
In the Army, the typical advice to young Soldiers is to stick it out, see it through, and retire. Talking about getting out is usually frowned upon. Judge Ku’s wise advice to me, and to all those aspiring to grow in their careers, is not to shy away from examining the reasons to stay in the Army and the reasons to leave. Rather, embrace the introspection and ask yourself: Should I stay in? Is this right for me? From one assignment to the next, these questions help as a way to analyze whether you are doing the right thing for yourself at the right time.
When I finally asked her how long she is going to stay in and what she wants to do next, her response was, “I’m still thinking about it.” TAL
SPC George is a Court Reporter with the XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.