Freedom Citation Essay: Understanding the cost Published Sept. 11, 2015 By Senior Airman Ladaisha Turner 72nd Medical Operations Squadron TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- As I sat on my worn couch pondering what exactly freedom meant to me, my mind seemed to draw a blank. My fingers hovered over my keyboard, placing them down, only to hesitantly pick them back up. What does freedom truly mean to me? I couldn't seem to put my thoughts into words, something that was unusual for someone who is as talkative as myself. I crossed my arms and continued to stare aimlessly at a blank computer screen. I thought, "Maybe if I focus hard enough, the words will come easy." But they didn't. Instead, I gazed over at my crumpled ABU top lying forgotten from a tough weeks work at ALS and that's when I felt the smile cross my face. I didn't think about it when I signed my name on the dotted line, the struggle that women a century ago must have gone through. I was welcomed into the Air Force while back then, women could only be nurses or serve during times of war. Other jobs were out of their grasp. While I am in the medical field and know it's my calling, I'm proud to see my fellow service women in jobs like fuels, crew chiefs, firefighters and, of course, pilots. When I think about all the achievements of service women across the branches, I realized freedom to me is the ability to progress as a nation. The words seemed to be flowing freely at that point, but I truly hadn't felt that spark of inspiration. What it took was looking up at the mantle over my fireplace. Pictures of myself and my husband lined up neatly in a row looked back at me. I even found myself looking over at him as he played his video games, smiling fondly at just how much the sacrifices of those before me had loosened the holds of prejudice and racism. I felt the sting of tears as I fully understood that had I met him in a timeline less than 50 years ago, I may not have been able to marry him. After all, marriage between a white man and a black woman was not legal in all states until 1967. To even imagine that I couldn't be with my soulmate was what made me so emotional. That's when I understood that freedom to me is the ability to love whomever I deem worthy. My thoughts didn't stop at just the progression of women within the military or the ability for interracial couples to marry. It turned to the grim side of those irreplaceable offers of life. Our freedom, the foundation of everything each individual person stands on within this country, was built on the sacrifice and the bloodshed of those before us. It also means that especially for our fallen Airmen, Soldiers, Seamen and Marines, their sacrifice on the battlefields allows those who slander their name and deaths to do so. To see people say "I hate the military" or "the military is a legal murder system" instead of understanding everything they did was to keep this nation safe is heartbreaking. Yet still, the ability have freedom of speech, no matter how hurtful or insensitive, is what freedom means to me. So in the end as I finished writing, feeling more humbled than when I started, I realized that freedom has numerous interpretations for me. If I were to pick one reason to blanket over all my contemplations: it means I have the power to become whoever I want in this world and that I have the right to truly be myself. Because of my ancestors, both military and civilian, I am able to proudly step forward onto my own platform to greatness.