A Wonderful Life
by Mary S
The Air Force is our life! As a twelve year old girl from the Philippines, I migrated to the Air Force life in 1993. My sister was a Staff Sergeant and Travis AFB, California was my first home in the US. After returning from our overseas tour, I met my high school sweetheart, who was also an Air Force dependent. I saw all the great opportunities that the Air Force had given my sister and our family so I decided to join after high school. Basic Training was a blast. Then every year after was so much more exciting than the last. I have been to two bases and served two fun-filled deployments…with my sweetheart supporting me from home. After eight years together, we finally decided to tie the knot. We now have a silly little 6 month old baby boy, who can proudly tell all his future friends that he is an Air Force dependent born in Japan. We cannot wait for him to travel and experience the world with us. And thanks to the Air Force, we were also able to continue our education for free! We have been proudly serving our country for eight years and we enjoy every moment of it. My family and I look forward to the new adventures that the Air Force has in store for us. Commissioning program, new duty station, more deployments, more babies…we will gladly take all of it! But for the time being, we are enjoying the sunshine here in beautiful Okinawa, Japan. Even though we are away from relatives, we know that our Air Force family will always be there to take care of us wherever we may be. The Air Force is more than a job to me and my family. It is our life…our wonderful life!