I thought that I would give a little background on my military career. I enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1998 and started my career as a helicopter engine mechanic. I worked primarily on Huey’s and Cobra’s. I was stationed at New River Air Station in Jacksonville, NC for the majority of my time in the Marine Corps. Although I did have training at NAS Pensacola, FL and Camp Pendleton, CA. There was also a deployment to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. I left the Marine Corps in late 2003 and used my G.I Bill benefits to attend The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS. I was an accounting major and enrolled in the universities Air Force ROTC program.
I graduated Southern Miss in 2006 and received my commission to 2nd LT the same year as a Financial Management Officer. Since 2006, I served in various locations and went on several deployments. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in the military for this long.
There have been plenty of challenges and I’ve watched the military change and adapt to overcome the new threats that we face. The Marine Corps went from an amphibious assault force to something similar to “Army Lite.” It’s nice to see that they are getting back to their amphibious roots. When I commissioned into the Air Force, drones were a new weapons platform. Today they are an integral part of our counter-terrorism strategy. After 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan, we are re-focusing our efforts on near-peer adversaries. This means building more F-35’s and recapitalizing an aging fleet.
What has been amazing is watching this new generation of Airmen come into the Air Force. The newest Airmen joining our ranks were born after 9-11 which still blows my mind. I don’t like to think that I’m very old but according to some of my Airman, I’m ancient (I’m only 40 by the way). These newest recruits are some of the smartest and well educated individuals to have ever joined. However, like their age cohort in the civilian world, they require different leadership styles. These kids grew up with smartphones and using youtube to figure out problems. Its challenging to figure out how to lead these you men and women but its exciting times.