I was a crew chief on a C-130 with the United States Air Force.

Our motto was “anytime, anywhere,” because we had special blanket orders, which were updated every six months. I was stationed at McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Wash. We provided global support to wherever it was needed and could be dispatched at any time, day or night, to anywhere in the world.

There are many places that I have been that are not on the “map.” We had to be resourceful and expressed our ingenuity by the statement, “We have been doing so much with so little for so long, now we can do almost anything with almost nothing.” As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, so we figured out how to overcome our circumstances wherever we went.

While in the Air Force, I gained an understanding of discipline, teamwork, organizational structure, achieving objectives, and learned about a culture of caring for others, all of which have been beneficial in my role at Mid Oregon Credit Union.

It was an amazing experience of learning, friendship, and overcoming adversity. I commend the brave, young military volunteers who put themselves in harm's way to serve their country and protect our freedom even when it can cost them everything.

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