Having spent the last decade in the Army, Erica McLean is more than familiar with the act of rendering a salute. Having others salute her, however, might take some getting used to.

After 10 years of climbing her way through the Army's enlisted ranks, McLean finally stepped into the shoes of an officer last month - trading her staff sergeant stripes for the gold bar of a second lieutenant during a direct commissioning ceremony at Joint Base Lewis-McChord's Lewis North Chapel.

"Even though I'm really trying to stay present in the moment, it's almost unbelievable," the newly promoted 2nd Lt. McLean said just moments after her pinning ceremony. "It's been on my radar since the beginning. No roadblocks came up; everything kind of fell into place."

It's not every day an enlisted Soldier earns the right to step directly from one corps to another. In fact, it's fairly rare.

"It's actually very uncommon," Col. Jack Marr, commander of the 189th Infantry Brigade, said. Marr's unit is a JBLM training brigade responsible for prepping Army Reserve units to deploy. "It generally only comes in a time of war, where we have to fill the officer ranks for critical specialties."

A direct commission requires that a Soldier have at least a bachelor's degree relevant to the career field he or she aspires to join as an officer. It requires a packet that includes proof of the Soldier's military and civilian education, the positions he or she has served and letters of recommendations from supervisors and commanders.

"It's basically saying that civilian-wise you have reached the level of education and advancement that you can transfer in and directly become an officer," McLean said.

McLean, a Reservist who applied for the direct commission incentive in late September, while assigned to 2nd Battalion, 364th Infantry Regiment, will soon join JBLM's 898th Medical Detachment working patient administration with Army veterinarians.

A licensed mental health counselor for the State of Washington and a counselor on JBLM in her civilian time, McLean plans to move on from administration to direct patient care for Soldiers who seek the help of behavioral health as she ascends the Army's officer ranks as a Reservist.

McLean said that as an Army Reserve officer, she'll have the opportunity to accept counseling positions that wouldn't otherwise be offered had she remained an NCO.

"She saw a need for working with Soldiers that had issues based on their wartime service, and she stepped up," said Marr, whose brigade moved from Fort Bragg, N.C., last summer to JBLM and immediately took McLean's battalion under its administrative wing.

As McLean spent her last few minutes as a noncommissioned officer, family and friends looked on with wide smiles, overjoyed for her success - but not at all surprised.

"She's always been there for me and for her sisters, just to take charge and be that leader," Sandra Roland, McLean's mother, said and considered the landmark day a blessing.

"I'm a natural-born leader as the big sister in my family," McLean said, who often managed the household for Roland and cared for her younger siblings in their single-parent home.

But in this family, where Army service runs deep, McLean has had to share the qualities of a leader. Roland is a staff sergeant in the Army Reserve, and McLean's sister, Alesia Griffen, is a first lieutenant. McLean's uncle had served, and her husband serves.

Without hesitation, McLean and Griffen give credit for their desire to join the Army to Roland, who currently serves with the 325th Combat Support Hospital in Independence, Mo.

Inspired by her mother's sense of duty, Griffen joined the Army in early 2002, just a couple of months before McLean signed up as well.

"You can see this is truly an Army family," Marr said during McLean's ceremony. "From mom straight down through the daughters, they live, eat and breathe Army."

As Roland rendered McLean's first official officer salute - a tradition during commissioning ceremonies - her eldest daughter was years, miles and a million memories past the days when she would occasionally serve as leader of the household - past the good and the bad that comes with life in a family that continually answers the Army's beckoning call.

"It was very tender - very emotional, because I'm just so proud of her," Roland said. "It was awesome to be that person to give her the first salute."

McLean knew the feeling. She gave Griffen her first salute as an officer years ago. Then, the plan was for them both to be officers together, although, for McLean, starting a family would set her off course for years.

"I'm not the only one now," said Griffen, who travelled from Birmingham, Ala., for the ceremony.

On a Friday the 13th, a date most typically associate with bad luck, everything went right for McLean and her family, who, once again, were able to be together.

"It's part of our livelihood, not only in the military but in our personal lives," Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth McLean, 2nd Lt. McLean's husband, said after he pinned his wife with her new rank. "We just really hold (that as a) priority in our family."

Photo: Army reservist 2nd Lt. Erica McLean hugs her 10-year-old brother, Samuel Roland, at Lewis North Chapel on Joint Base Lewis-McChord, last month. McLean traded in her staff sergeant stripes for the gold bar of a second lieutenant during her direct commissioning ceremony. Sgt. Christopher M. Gaylord.