Forty-three Airmen and four Sailors graduated from Tinker’s Airman Leadership School last month.
Graduates are:
117th Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Matthew Pressley
137th Special Operations Force Support Squadron
Senior Airman Amy Akpiri, Freedom Citation Award Winner
139th Airlift Wing
Senior Airman Sephrina Knorr
307th Force Support Squadron
Senior Airman Neosha Benson
445th Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Paul Wooley
507th Air Refueling Wing
Senior Airman Jerimie McBrayer
Senior Airman Natalee Gates
507th Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Ty Bremerman
552nd Air Control/Networks Squadron
Senior Airman Andrew Dawson
552nd Air Control Wing
Senior Airman Daniel Fernandez
552nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Andrew Davenport
Senior Airman Jesse Villarreal
Senior Airman Casey Boever
Senior Airman Brandon Hunter, Sharp Image Award Winner
Senior Airman Alejandro Chavarriga
Senior Airman Justin Lanman
Senior Airman Keven Romero
Senior Airman John Atterson
Senior Airman Matthew Harwood
552nd Maintenance Group
Senior Airman Anthony Galata
552nd Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Miles Bollin
Senior Airman Cory Clark
Senior Airman Jordan Brown
Senior Airman Brian Peters
Senior Airman Zachary Murphy
Senior Airman Richard Lewis
Senior Airman Alexander Baker
Senior Airman Mario Campbell
552nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Leslie Freeman
Senior Airman Nicholas Gravante, John L. Levitow Award Winner
72nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Joshua Gaudreau
72nd Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Nicholas Gerity
Senior Airman Johnathan Kiefer
Senior Airman Danny Hamilton
72nd Medical Operations Squadron
Senior Airman Tsistsistsas Tall Bear
960th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Seth Midkiff
Senior Airman Jacob Procasky
Senior Airman Matthew Jordan
963rd Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Matthew Donald, Distinguished Graduate
964th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Ryan Walden, Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Steven Wilson, Leadership Award Winner
965th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Jordin Burns
966th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Steven Beaupierre, Distinguished Graduate
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron THREE
Petty Officer 3rd Class Augen Loyola
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron FOUR
Petty Officer 3rd Class Roslyn Robbins
Petty Officer 3rd Class Mitchael Krueger, Academic Achievement Award and Distinguished Graduate
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron SEVEN
Petty Officer 3rd Class Taylor Kalahiki
Freedom Citation: What is Freedom?
Written by Senior Airman Amy Akpiri, 137th Special Operations Force Support Squadron
Freedom can have many definitions, but what it means to you is what really counts. So here is what freedom means to me.
Freedom to me is believing what you say and/or do.
My parents came to the United States from Nigeria years ago with hopes in providing their future children the chances for better opportunities. They left behind family and other loved ones but believed it was all for the better. This in turn left my parents to fend for themselves, so my father joined the United States Army. His freedom within the Army provided us with freedoms of this country and for their believing I am forever thankful.
Freedom to me is courage.
Although my siblings and I were born and raised here in the States, it never failed to have classmates pick on us for our names. Being teased is the hardest issue when in elementary school, but having that courage one day made a difference. My classmates would pronounce my name as “Aca-pickle” all the time as a child and sing the theme song to “Lion King” whenever I came into class. However, I stopped them one day by saying, “Do not pronounce my name like that, it may sound weird but it is unique and I am proud of my heritage.” All it took was for me to stand on what I believed in and actually going in front of my peers and announcing it. This profound courage is what makes me free every day when I walk into situations where I do not feel comfortable in.
Freedom to me is sacrifice.
This word is what really brings the other two words together. I had the opportunity of being a military brat all my life. This has shown me many faces, various culture backgrounds, a plethora of friends and seeing how dedicated my parents were in making sure we always were taken care of. My dad would work morning to night and still take on calls after duty-hours, sacrificing countless nights of sleep. My mom would do the same and still made sure we had a hot meal every night. Homework was done and holiday traditions were still kept up. My parents never complained because they were believing it would all pay off one day; they were right. They never once kept quiet while witnessing something wrongful being done because they had courage to take action and saying what they knew was right. My parents, to me, did the ultimate sacrifice in leaving their home, family, and loved ones back in Nigeria in order to provide a better life for their children.
Believe + courage + sacrifice = Mommy and Daddy “Freedom”
I want to leave this equation here because this is the formula of what freedom means to me.