TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Thirty-eight Airmen graduated from Tinker’s Airman Leadership School recently.
Graduates are:
150th Operations Group
Senior Airman Katrina O’Neil
189th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Senior Airman John Fuentes
507th Civil Engineering Squadron
Senior Airman William Elliott,
Distinguished Graduate and
Sharp Image Award
552nd Air Control Networks Squadron
Senior Airman Hugo Garza Salas,
Freedom Citation Award Winner
552nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Joshua Hewitt
Senior Airman Luis Noriega
Senior Airman Zachary Wasuta
Senior Airman Gabriel Campos
Senior Airman Christian Cissell
Senior Airman James Files Jr.
Senior Airman John Woodcock,
Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Jean Paguay
Senior Airman Jeremy Zapp
552nd Maintenance Group
Staff Sgt. Dallas Patterson, Leadership Award
552nd Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Cody Jones
552nd Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Seth Lyskoski
Senior Airman Brent Tester
Senior Airman Ramone Bassett
Senior Airman Garytt Shirey
Senior Airman Thomas Stephenson
552nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Daniel Disla
Senior Airman Justin Lawson
72nd Force Support Squadron
Senior Airman Michael Piper
72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron
Senior Airman Brandie Benoit
72nd Medical Operations Squadron
Senior Airman Deasia Dunbar
Senior Airman Noelle Reeves
72nd Medical Support Squadron
Senior Airman Kristen Lowder
72nd Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Nicky Mangmoradeth
Senior Airman Paul Fourquet-Quinones,
John L. Levitow Award
Senior Airman Courtney Hinemeyer
Senior Airman Melody Falcon
Senior Airman Tyler Gardner,
Academic Achievement Award and
Distinguished Graduate
76th Aircraft Maintenance Group
Senior Airman Wolfgang Kimsey
960th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Nikolaus Bass
963rd Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Joshua Payne
965th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Staff Sgt. Justin Garsjo
966th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Jordan Brabo
Senior Airman Andrew Newson Jr.
Freedom citation:
This is my freedom
Senior Airman Hugo Garza Salas
552nd Air Control Networks Squadron
“Know what’s behind you, but never look back.” This may sound like a wise quote said by someone famous once, but to me it was just one of many common rules you had to follow if you did not want to get robbed or kidnapped in the streets of Mexico, because you could be sure someone was out to get you. You had to be aware of anybody keeping their eyes on you by looking at reflections in windows, or using your peripherals, because if you looked back, you would not see anything out of place. I was 6 years old.
Growing up in that environment, the subtle fear for your safety everywhere you go becomes no different than breathing; that is why I will never forget the feeling of safety I got when I first came to America. It was just a visit to border town, but we went to a mall and I knew what to do. That’s when I noticed something weird. The people in the mall were carefree and relaxed. They’d let go of their shopping bags when they sat down or tied their shoes. Kids were running around clothing stores nearly out of sight of their parents. It was unreal to me, so I asked my mother and she said, “Oh, over here most people aren’t out to get you.” Just like that?
I lived in Mexico for a good portion of my life in a decent neighborhood. Nobody ever told me I couldn’t walk down the street or go shopping or just leisurely go about my business, so how come I felt like I shouldn’t?
Fast-forward 10 years later when the paperwork to legally come to America finally got approved. We left behind everything we knew, but we knew it was for the better, and sure enough my friends back home confirmed that. Crime started rising, drug cartels became increasingly violent toward the general population. I heard stories of my friends walking back from school and seeing the aftermath of cartel fights. Cars blown up by grenades and blood on the streets, the same streets I grew up on. My family back home warned us not to visit because they were kidnapping people on the highways. I feared for my family and friends, but surprisingly they weren’t that worried and said, “Well, not much has changed. You just have to be more careful when you’re out on the streets is all.”
I am not who I used to be. I no longer have to fear, but I won’t allow myself to ever forget. All those years are part of the reason I am who I am today. Every experience is a lesson I might have to painfully experience again if I forget it. Besides, who’s to say that even to this day there is not someone behind me looking to get me.
“Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is a well-known phrase written in the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson. It echoes in history as words of freedom and inalienable rights to all human beings by their Creator. They resound deeply within me, for I thought I was free until I came to America. Beautiful America: where I can walk through life alongside many others without fear.
This is my “freedom.” It may not sound like much, but it’s a whole world to me, and I am infinitely grateful that I am able to live in it, and I am infinitely lucky to be a part of the Air Force on top of that. To be a part of the group of people that upholds that freedom; that protect this world where we are free to walk forward without fear.
Every single person in this room has a story, and no story was written without pain. We were all met with strife and tribulations that threatened to bring us down and keep us there, but we kept moving forward and arrived to where we are right now. Yet for all the pain we leave behind, we must never forget it, for it was every bead of sweat dropped and every tear shed that became the building blocks of who we are today. It is us who pave the way to freedom that others will walk.
So, as always, Mother was right. Her words ring true to this day, with a different tune now, “Know what’s behind, but never look back.” Face forward as we walk through life, never forgetting all we have learned. Walk with me, this is only the beginning.