Airman Leadership School
Thirty-seven Airmen and two Sailors recently graduated from Tinker’s Airman Leadership School.
Graduates are:
138th Force Support Squadron
Senior Airman Gavin Payton
Senior Airman Drake Moffitt
507th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Senior Airman Berenice Pitre
552nd Air Control Networks Squadron
Senior Airman Jacob Fournier
Staff Sgt. Sean Duncan
552nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Jacob Becker
Senior Airman Stephen Gustafson
Senior Airman Nikolea Kelly
Senior Airman Jacob Lozano
Senior Airman Devon Gilbert
Senior Airman Stephen Smith
552nd Maintenance Group
Senior Airman Brandon Stephens, Distinguished Graduate
552nd Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Jeffson Louie-Jeune
Senior Airman Max Worthington
Senior Airman Devlin Candelaria
Senior Airman Colleen Clay
Senior Airman Tegan Morris, Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Victoria Heitkamp
Senior Airman Calvin Mortier
Senior Airman Gabriel Sprunger
Senior Airman Drejion Taylor
552nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Brianna Brice-Johnson
72nd Aerial Port Squadron
Senior Airman Juanita Morales
72nd Medical Operations Squadron
Senior Airman Luke Lyons
72nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman William Russell, Academic Award and Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Joseph Ramos
72nd Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Daniel Uriarte, John L. Levitow Award
Senior Airman Daryl Turner II
Senior Airman Isaac Wani, Freedom Citation Winner
Senior Airman Daniel Cienfuegos, Leadership Award
960th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Lorenzo Gutierrez
Senior Airman Isaiah Bennett
963rd Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Brandon Tellez
Senior Airman Antonio Paravisini
964th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Shantil Gamiao
965th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Zachary Hines
966th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Alejandro Garcia
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3
Petty Officer 3rd Class Shaianne Mansfield
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4
Petty Officer 3rd Class Megan Siangco, Sharp Image Award
Freedom Citation
Senior Airman Isaac Wani
72nd Security Forces Squadron
At the age of three, my life began with the sudden eruption of the Sudanese Civil War. Because of the unexpected outbreak of war, my family had to immediately pack our belongings and flee to Uganda. Everyone escaped to Uganda except for my dad. My mom, younger sister, older brother and I went to a refugee camp in Northern Uganda to start a new life without my dad.
Hoping that my father made it through the war, my mother would speak to new refugees, asking them if they had seen my father. Months went by until one day, my uncle showed up at camp with a letter from my dad. My mom could not read any English, so my uncle read the letter to my family. He explained to us that dad had escaped the war by fleeing to Kenya, and he was working on immigration documentation to the United States.
We remained in the Ugandan refugee camp while my father established residency in the United States. To stay in touch, family wrote letters to my father. My dad suggested that the family move to Kampala, Uganda, to be closer to the United States Embassy, so that communication would be easier between him and the rest of the family. While in the city, my brother and I attended school for the first time. My family started our immigration documentation process to the United States in early 2001. The process slowed down by almost an entire year due to the 9/11 terrorist attack. During the final phase of our process, my mom fell ill with Cat Scratch Disease. The doctors in Uganda were not equipped to treat her illness, and so she passed away that year. If we had been able to immigrate when we had originally planned, I can’t help thinking that she would have survived.
I was grieving, angry, confused and above all, hopeless. I thought to myself, “Why me, oh God? My mother has passed away, my caretaker, the person that comforted me in my times of sadness, war and life in the refugee camp, and now she was gone, gone forever.” I knew I would never see my mom, but above all I knew no one would be able to take care of my siblings and me, to fulfill the warmth and comfort of my mom, and fill that role that she played better than anybody.
I tried to cope with the void of my mom’s absence, but nothing could lessen the sadness and immense grief of what had happened. My mother’s death pushed back our immigration process to the United States for an additional year on top of the delays from 9/11. My sibling and I were sent to live with my aunt, who also escaped from Sudan into Koboko, a small town in rural Uganda. The bus trip to Koboko gave me an opportunity to reflect on my next move in life. I knew I could not sulk in sadness; it’s not something that my mother would want me to do. She would want me to be strong, to be “her little man.” I realized I needed to be her knight in shining armor for the sake of my little sister, who was only six at the time. I took on the role of a leader and mentor for her and tried to comfort her when she asked why mom was not with us. I tried my best to explain that Mom was too busy to join us, and when she’s done with work she will come for us in Koboko.
My family then lost communication with my dad for a whole year. Because my siblings and I lived in rural Uganda, we had no way of communicating with our father. I thought I would never see him again. I felt confused and hopeless. It felt like I had lost both of my parents. I then thought to myself that nothing can get worse, so I pressed on, hoping for the best.
My uncle told a friend of my father’s from the United States where he could find us. He came to the village where my sibling and I lived, with a letter from my father. My father wanted my brother, sister and I to move back to Kampala in order to continue our immigration documentation process.
Weeks later, we moved to the city to live with our uncle, who had established his own life in Kampala. While there, we picked up where we left off in our immigration process and reestablished communication with our father. Another year passed, and my family’s immigration was in its final phase, and we waited for our flight to the United States. Finally, on Nov.29, 2004, my sibling and I moved to America.
I love the United States! From my childhood experiences fleeing war, living in a refugee camp, and living without both parents, I have become an appreciative person who does not take for granted the opportunities this country has to offer to anyone who will reach out and gasp them. That’s why I joined the Air Force, to repay the generosity this country has bestowed upon my family. I joined because I was endorsed by the greatest nation - a nation who rescued a refugee boy and his family, has given me such the privileges of calling myself a U.S. citizen and the opportunity to attend one of the world’s most premier institutions: The United States Air Force Academy. As such, I want to protect the values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by serving, so that one day I can inspire such moral pillars in my native country of Sudan, thereby uplifting my former countrymen. I joined to have the chance to give those who are less fortunate the opportunities I never had, to offer my brethren opportunities that I did not have when I was growing up. To show others that with the right work ethics and frame of mind, the unthinkable is attainable. I joined to better myself and become an ambassador of what the Air Force stands for. After I receive my degree, my goal is to commission in the Air Force. It would give me the chance to further my passion of service to this Nation by becoming an Air Attaché to Africa. This will hopefully propel me to become an Ambassador to my birth country.
While in the states, I have experienced many things, but nothing comes close to the journey I underwent to secure a future for my family and me. I know that negative experiences do much to form a person’s character. Great people in history such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi and many others underwent difficult and horrible circumstances, and the strong character traits that were forged in them during those difficult times were the fundamental building blocks for their great leadership and inspiration.
I am forever indebted and grateful that I was rescued from the life that awaited me, had my family stayed in Sudan.