Liberia: Tamar J.W. Tarr – the Private Who Wants to Command an Army

Women are 7.4 percent of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Pvt. Tamar J.W. Tarr, 24, a clerk at headquarters, is aiming at the office at the very top of it.

Running was the one thing she could not do.

Every physical fitness test at basic training brought Pvt. Tamar J.W. Tarr back to the same weakness. She had come into the Armed Forces of Liberia as a university graduate, confident in a classroom, sure of herself on paper. None of that helped on the road at first light, with the distance stretching…