Airman Leadership School
Forty-four Airmen, two Sailors and Tinker’s first civilian graduated from Tinker’s Airman Leadership School recently.
Class 18-E graduates are:
137th Special Operations Mission Support Group
Senior Airman Jacquilynn Krois
507th Medical Squadron
Senior Airman Ashley Davis-Reyes
513th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Elizabeth Jennings
546th Propulsion Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Taylor Mclean
552nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Nikalus Mendoza
Senior Airman William Bianconi
Senior Airman Austin Mccooley, Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Shawnses Adisa
Senior Airman Miles Link
Senior Airman Matthew Smith
Senior Airman Trevor Estep
Senior Airman Richard Cornett III, Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Patrick Mcmorris
Senior Airman Mitchell Phillips
Senior Airman Nicholas Rosa
552nd Maintenance Group
Senior Airman Cedric Gilreath
552nd Maintenance Squadron
Senior Airman Jordan Pontius
Senior Airman Christian Duncan
Senior Airman Ryan Furnish
Senior Airman David Blue
Senior Airman Julia Bussey
Senior Airman Marc Briggs
Senior Airman Thomas Vanhooser
Senior Airman Christopher Parker
Senior Airman Kyle Skitka
Senior Airman Tucker Binegar
552nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Benjamin Graubner
552nd Training Squadron
Staff Sgt. Billy Webb Jr.
72nd Aerospace Medicine Squadron
Senior Airman Kristina Song, Leadership Award, Distinguished Graduate and Sharp Image Award
72nd Air Base Wing
Equal Opportunity Specialist Kimberly Moses
72nd Force Support Squadron
Senior Airman Nicole Manaroinsong
72nd Medical Operations Squadron
Senior Airman Sarah Thornberry
72nd Operations Support Squadron
Senior Airman Brandon Feister
Senior Airman Robert Levens, John L. Levitow Award
72nd Security Forces Squadron
Senior Airman Emily Chanthavong
Senior Airman Brian Weaver, Academic Achievement Award and Distinguished Graduate
Senior Airman Caleb Beverly
Senior Airman Shelby Stiegler
Senior Airman Dillon Farrell
Senior Airman Grace Ibrahim
963rd Airborne Air Control Squadron
Staff Sgt. Chelsea Gallardo
966th Airborne Air Control Squadron
Senior Airman Christopher Williams
Senior Airman Eric Huster
Senior Airman Shannon Williamson, Freedom Citation Award Winner
Air Force Flight Standards Agency Headquarters
Senior Airman Noah Griffin
Strategic Communications Wing ONE
Petty Officer 2nd Class Diego Delgado
Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 4
Petty Officer 3rd Class Emiliano Lopez
Freedom citation: The price of freedom
Senior Airman Shannon Williamson
966th Airborne Air Control Squadron
What is freedom?
Freedom means different things to different people. It is a question with various answers rooted in everything from personal experiences and moral code, to lifestyle and upbringing.
Thomas Jefferson had the simplest answer: “the pursuit of happiness.”
To me, freedom means having the power and right to act, speak and think freely without subjection or reprisal from the state. It means to be secure in my person, my property and my prosperity without subjected overreach.
To me, freedom means having the ability to determine my own destiny with personal responsibility. It means having an opportunity and living in a reality that millions around the world will never know and that it should not be taken for granted.
I make it a personal point to always remember that the opportunities I have and the experiences I’ve had as an American were not afforded to me simply as a matter of birth. The opportunities afforded to me have come at a price I cannot repay.
Though I feel that many individuals take what they have for granted in terms of what they can do, I implore everyone to recall history and remember that everything we have – all the rights and opportunities afforded to us – are only possible because of those who came before us and laid the foundation for liberty.
Ronald Reagan said it best when he said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
The price of freedom is high and it is a price that only a select few are willing to pay. Those select few carry the title of veteran. A veteran is someone who at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to the United States and her citizens in the amount of, and up to including their life. To me, freedom means the ability to defend and secure not only my own prosperity and pursuit of happiness, but that of my fellow countrymen as well, so that they and the next generation can know the same freedom that we have today. This, we’ll defend.