The Whole Family Joins the Army

By Beth Kowitt, Fortune

Lynette Mendez, 43, Holyoke, Mass.

Lynette Mendez wears pink sweaters and recently took in an unwanted cat. She is a mother hen who shuttles her daughter, Cheramie, to her after-school job and picks up her kids' friends from work. So it's hard to picture Mendez decked out in camouflage, scaling walls or firing M-16s. But that's what she'll be doing as soon as the paperwork goes through. Despite having a master's degree in accounting, she can't find a job -- so she has joined the U.S. Army Reserve.