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In Flight USA Articles
Resilience: One Airman’s Story of Faith, Service
By Janis El Shabazz, 340th Flying Training Group Public Affairs
This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story).
Sandra and Gabriel Rousseaux, Senior Master Sgt. Jon Rousseaux, Dr. Amy Holder and Maj. (Dr.) Dax Holder pose for a photo during a fundraising run for ‘Any Baby Can’, a San Antonio-based organization that serves families with children and youth facing serious health or developmental challenges, to raise money for sudden infant death syndrome research. The Rousseauxs lost their son, Joshua, to SIDS in 2010. (Courtesy photo)Senior Master Sgt. Jon Rousseaux was like many children who grew up in a military family. The self-described man of faith and service followed his father, a retired chief, into the Air Force – and after 19 years, he is still at it. In fact, he just re-enlisted for four more years. Rousseaux’s years of service have strengthened his faith and resiliency, helping him through the most difficult time of his life.
Co-workers describe Rousseaux as a steady, easy-going guy whose steadfastness and determination helped him rapidly ascend the ranks. Everyone agrees that, usually, not much upsets him – but the events that happened in May 2010 shook him to his core.
Rousseaux said it was a typical day. He woke the kids, made breakfast, and dropped his infant son, Joshua, off at day care and older son, Cayden, at school. It was Joshua’s first week in day care. Rousseaux said what happened next was like a surreal nightmare – but it was broad daylight and painfully real.
“I got a call from my wife, Sandra, that Josh had stopped breathing,” Rousseaux said. “I was on my way to the day care when I got another call telling me to meet the ambulance at the hospital. Nothing can prepare you for the scene of your tiny baby laying on a table with a flurry of doctors trying to stabilize him and not knowing what is happening because everything is happening so fast.”
Journey to Recovery
By Senior Airman Kyle Johnson, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story).
Senior Master Sgt. Janet Lemmons, the 176th Force Support Squadron sustainment and services superintendent, holds up a note her son Tommy wrote to her and his stepfather, Tom, when he was younger. She found the note among a pile of old receipts when she was looking to trade in some diamond earrings after his death. Lemmons tells everyone the note is a thousand times better than diamonds and she keeps it at her desk. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Kyle Johnson)Then-Tech. Sgt. Janet Lemmons realized she couldn’t breathe in the hospital room. It was as if there wasn’t enough space for her family’s grief and the air collectively. She had to get out.
Lemmons stepped into the elevator that would take her someplace where she could breathe, but the cold steel walls provided no comfort as they sealed her in. She took several deep breaths as the elevator descended. The doors opened on friends and family, and they all knew exactly what had happened as soon as they saw her.
Her oldest son, Tommy, was dead.
Lemmons stepped out into a surreal world where nothing was as it should be and didn’t feel like it ever would be.
“How am I going to laugh again?” said Lemmons, now a senior master sergeant and the sustainment services superintendent for the 176th Force Support Squadron. “What is life going to be like? How am I going to eat again? How is anything ever going to be enjoyable again?”
Chief Exercises Resilience Through Mountain Climbing
By Senior Airman Solomon Cook, 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story).
Airmen reach the summit of Granite Peak in Montana after a three-day climb of more than 7,000 feet Aug. 30, 2016. (Courtesy photo)The four pillars of comprehensive airmen fitness are mental, physical, social, and spiritual. How Airmen choose to strengthen them is of their own desire, but one sergeant thinks a way to reinforce all of these concepts is found at the top of each American states’ highest point.
Most recently, Chief Master Sgt. Dean Werner, the emergency management program manager for the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, led a hike Aug. 4-6, adding to his list of mountains climbed.
“I led a group of 10 Airmen to the summit of Granite Peak, Mont., which is considered the most difficult of the 50 state highpoints to conquer, except for Mount Denali, Alaska,” Werner said.
The climb consisted of 28 miles in three days, gaining more than 7,000 feet of elevation.
Tuskegee Airman Reflects on Diversity
By Airman Jenna K. Caldwell, 22nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.)
Retired Maj. George BoydIt was 1944, and the U.S. was in the midst of two battles – a war on two sides of the world and the onslaught of cultural changes on the home front.
Meanwhile, a young African-American Soldier picked up trash on the white sandy beaches at Keesler Field, Miss. He had been briefed that although he was in the service and evidently may fight and die for his country, he could neither walk on this beach unless he was working nor could he swim here because it was for whites only.
Now retired Maj. George Boyd, a 28-year combat veteran and Tuskegee Airman, will never forget the hypocrisy of that order. Boyd, now a resident of Wichita, Kan., was part of the service during the transition from the Army Air Corps to the Air Force.
Boyd served in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He witnessed the roots of social equality shift within his country and his service – from the integration of the armed forces by President Harry S. Truman in 1948, to the Civil Rights movements of the 1960s.
Former Marine Military Working Dog Finds New Life in the Air Force
By Air Force Master Sgt. April Lapetoda
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series on AF.mil. These stories focus on a single Airman, highlighting their Air Force story.)
Senior Airman Samantha Baker gives her partner, Penny, a hug after successfully completing a training session. Baker is a military working dog handler deployed to the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. April Lapetoda)The passion and love between military working dogs and handlers is part of the job, but not always evident. However, for Senior Airman Samantha Baker and her partner for the past four months, military working dog Penny, the two are often seen walking around the base together.
Sometimes Baker carries Penny up makeshift stairs so that her paws don’t get stuck, and instead of working strict patrol and obedience training, the two are often in the training area engaging in a game of catch with lots of hugs, love and praise.
Not only does Baker’s and Penny’s relationship look different from the average military working dog and its handler – it is different in several ways. One of the main factors for the difference in their relationship is that Penny is a fox red Labrador.