HomeNewsArticle Display

Airmen, Sailors graduate from leadership school

  • Published
  • By Airman Leadership School
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Forty-one Airmen and four Sailors graduated from Tinker's Airman Leadership School on June 30. Graduates and award winners are:

Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron THREE
Petty Officer 3rd Class Christina Schloss

Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron FOUR
Petty Officer 3rd Class Tyler Carr
Petty Officer 3rd Class Isaac Huerta

Strategic Communications Wing ONE
Petty Officer 3rd Class Addison Perez

72nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron
Senior Airman Evan Sartin

72nd Comptroller Squadron
Senior Airman Eric Patterson

72nd Dental Squadron
Senior Airman Caitlin Barnes

72nd Force Support Squadron
Senior Airman Taylor Key

72nd Logistics Readiness Squadron
Senior Airman Richard Loveless

72nd Medical Support Squadron
Senior Airman Felicia Kirksey
Senior Airman Eleni Schrock

72nd Medical Operations Squadron
Senior Airman Zachary Nagle, Academic Achievement and Distinguished Graduate Awards

72nd Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Corbett Smith, Sharp Image
Senior Airman Evan Stull

138th Logistics Readiness Squadron
Senior Airman Christall Cohen

148th Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Andrew Erickson

150th Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Alexzandra Chavez

189th Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Matthew Knight

507th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Spencer Coles

507th Civil Engineering Squadron
Senior Airman Samuel Rochin

507th Maintenance Squadron
Staff Sgt. John Barbour, Freedom Citation Award
Senior Airman Thomas Rabon
Senior Airman Arsenio Smith
Senior Airman Nicholas Tschacher

507th Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Nicholas Corporon

513th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Paul Straily

552nd Air Control Networks Squadron
Senior Airman Mary Cates

552nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Michael Jordan
Senior Airman Stephen Kendall
Senior Airman Brian Stokes

552nd Maintenance Group
Senior Airman Cory Sivo

552nd Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Bryan Coleman
Senior Airman Gregory Deglomine
Senior Airman Nicholas Hazlett
Senior Airman Steven Mize

963rd Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Curtis Cox
Senior Airman Walter Minton
Senior Airman Michael Reinoso

964th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Cody Lundquist
Senior Airman Milton Seward, Distinguished Graduate and Leadership Award

965th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Omar Garcia
Senior Airman Xavier Rosa, Distinguished Graduate

966th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Ruddy Arias
Senior Airman Jessie McDowell, John L. Levitow Award
Senior Airman Joel Mejias

Winning Freedom Citation Essay

Staff Sgt. John Barbour
507th Maintenance Squadron

Growing up, I would listen to my grandfather, who served in the Navy during World War II, speak about fighting for the freedom of the United States and the men and women who served with him.  My grandfather would speak about how he felt it was his responsibility to make sure that his friends and shipmates didn't die in vain. 

I would also listen to my father, who served in Vietnam with the Marines and the Air Force, speak of fighting for the United States and how he was there fighting for the freedom of oppressed people. 

Listening to these strong men in my family speak gave me a sense of pride and the yearning to serve in the military. I felt the pride that both of them had, and how they both had different visions of what freedom meant. I wanted to do what they had done in the past. I wanted to protect the United States of America, and I also wanted to protect and free those who were being held in oppression.

I joined the Army and I served with them for 13 years active duty. I served in the infantry and became a ranger. During those 13 years, I was deployed on many occasions -- from Desert Shield/Desert Storm to Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

The one deployment that had the largest impact on me -- and gave me the greatest sense of what freedom meant -- was when I was deployed to Bosnia and Herzegovina as a member of the Implementation Force.

We were positioned outside Olovo, Bosnia. When we arrived, my platoon was in charge of checkpoints just outside of Olovo, controlling traffic in and out of the zone of separation. While working NCOIC of the checkpoint, there was a 9-year-old boy who came from the mountains with a sled full of materials for surviving. Of course we challenged him to make sure that there was no intention of blowing us up. After the challenge, I learned through our translator, that this 9-year-old boy had been hiding in the mountains from the Serbian soldiers. 

I asked the boy where his family was and he explained to me that a month earlier his family had sent him to the store for food. When he was walking back, he watched bombs blow up his home with his family inside it. He stated that he gathered what he could and took off into the mountains. This boy then told me that since he didn't hear any more bombing he decided to come out of hiding. He then told me he was shocked to see that the U.S. military was there, but he thanked us profusely. After helping the boy load his gear into our HUMVEE and giving him some warm food and liquid, we gave him a ride into town and helped him with connecting with the other displaced children of Bosnia.

After I dropped him off, I then truly understood what freedom meant to me. Seeing this boy's eyes of happiness, his sense of relief and his actions of thanking us profusely for being there gave me the largest sense of pride. You see, now the word freedom has several meanings. None of them are truly wrong, but the word freedom to me means freeing those that are being oppressed by bullies or dictatorship governments.