USAF newsmakers of 2014

Secretary Deborah Lee James

The first year of Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James' tenure was packed with controversies and large-scale changes to the service.

Less than one month after her confirmation in December 2013, James came forward to announce the service's biggest scandal: that dozens of nuclear missile launch officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, had been implicated for cheating on exams. She promised a transparent response.

Since then, James has steered the service to address morale issues in the nuclear community, the drawdown in Afghanistan, the new bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria, and large force structure changes expected to shift airmen and aircraft to the reserve forces.

"We have fewer people and fewer aircraft. The aircraft we have are getting older and older ... while our ops tempo has literally gone through the roof," James said during a Dec. 16 town hall. "There's the latest serious fight with the Air Force in the lead against [the Islamic State group], humanitarian airdrops in the Pacific, the fight against Ebola in Western Africa. You name it, the U.S. Air Force is leading the way and in the forefront."

James has been the public face of the service. She has done several high-profile interviews and taken the lead on Capitol Hill where a rocky relationship between the service and lawmakers dates back to the fiscal 2013 budget debate, when lawmakers and governors objected to the service's plan to downsize the Air National Guard. While Capitol Hill battles have continued, mainly about the service's attempt to retire the A-10, lawmakers and experts have said the relationship has improved.

One ongoing plea to Congress is to make sure that sequestration does not return. If it does, there will be more cuts and a large drop in readiness, James has said.

"Please Congress, lift sequestration in [fiscal] '16," James said at the State of the Air Force briefing last summer. "Because if these difficult choices in FY 15 were troublesome, hold on to your hats, because it is going to get worse and even more difficult in FY 16."

Lt. Gen. Sam Cox

In his first year as the Air Force's personnel chief, Lt. Gen. Sam Cox had the unwanted and unpleasant task of overseeing a massive force management program that led to the separation or retirement of nearly 20,000 active-duty airmen.

But throughout 2014, Cox also left his stamp on the Air Force in other ways that will have profound impacts on airmen's lives and careers. Under his watch, the Air Force began rolling out the most significant changes in decades to how enlisted airmen are evaluated and promoted.

And the Air Force began experimenting with a sabbatical program, called the Career Intermission Pilot Program, that will allow up to 40 airmen next year to take up to three years off from the Air Force.

For better or for worse, Cox was the face of the 2014 force management program that ended up selecting 19,833 airmen to retire or separate, voluntarily and involuntarily.

There were bumps along the way, which sometimes led airmen to vent their frustrations online at the Air Force and Cox. A "pause" in processing some voluntary retirement and separation applications in March confused some. Fewer than 20 airmen were mistakenly told their Temporary Early Retirement Authority applications had been approved, and then were revoked, before the Air Force reversed itself again and said it would honor those airmen's approvals.

And more than 1,000 airmen who were approved for voluntary separation pay were mistakenly told they would receive transitional health care benefits — some even received cards and started using those benefits — before the Air Force revoked those benefits. The Air Force eventually approved those Transition Assistance Management Program benefits for all 4,529 airmen approved for voluntary separation pay.

But Cox and his team also adjusted their force shaping plan as the year progressed to take into account developments such as the nuclear missile cheating and drug use scandal. That scandal led the Air Force to remove nuclear jobs from the list of cuts in June.

And as more airmen accepted voluntary separation and retirement offers, Cox's team significantly reduced the scope of the involuntary programs. A planned retention board to cut chief master sergeants was canceled, and other retention boards were shrunk. In the end, 6,129 airmen — less than one-third of all cuts — were involuntarily separated by the Air Force. Cox and other Air Force leaders repeatedly said that they hoped to achieve as many cuts as possible through voluntary measures before resorting to involuntary cuts.

In a November interview, Cox stressed that the cuts were the last thing the Air Force wanted to do.

"From the very outset, none of us wanted to do any of these reductions," Cox said. "But because of the budgetary issues, that's what we had to do. It's what we could afford to have."

The A-10

The Air Force budget debate on Capitol Hill was dominated by one issue: the future of the A-10.

The Air Force said budget restrictions were pushing it to retire the venerable close-air support jet. Retiring the 343-aircraft fleet would save $3.5 billion over five years.

The recommendation met immediate opposition in Congress. "I've been fighting so hard for the A-10, and there's only one reason for that," Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said in November. "I believe when we send our men and women to fight on our behalf, that they deserve the very best and we have a responsibility to ensure we can do everything we can to bring them home."

Ayotte leads the movement to block the A-10 retirement. She is joined by powerful lawmakers such as incoming Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C.; and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.

"The Air Force spent most of this year fighting Congress on retiring the A-10," McCain said Nov. 13. "Why they weren't focused on more important issues, I don't know."

In November, as the fiscal 2015 National Defense Authorization Act was being finalized, the A-10 supporters brought in an important group: the Tactical Air Control Party Association, the largest group of current and retired Air Force TACP airmen.

"This is the first time we've spoken publicly about this issue," said retired Master Sgt. Charlie Keebaugh, president of the TACP Association. "We are compelled to take action at this point. Knowing the status of the world and our brothers, and our friends who are being sent downrange, they deserve to have the support that they need to do the mission."

The opposition worked. The final version of the NDAA, which President Obama signed into law Dec. 17, includes $331.1 million to block the retirement. It allows the Air Force to move 36 of the jets to backup status, meaning they would not regularly be flown but would remain with their units.

The F-22

The opening night of Operation Inherent Resolve on Sept. 22 gave the military the opportunity to unveil the combat capability of its newest operational fighter, the F-22.

Two F-22s dropped bombs that night in Syria, destroying a building belonging to the Islamic State group. Officials decided to employ the Raptors because of their stealth capability and advanced avionics that helped improve the situational awareness of other aircraft on the mission.

"Planners are taking a look at the specifics of each mission, determining if they need them or not," said Maj. Gen. Jeff Harrigian, the Air Force assistant chief of staff of operations, plans and requirements. "It depends on the targets, where they are, and the environment ... those types of things to determine if it is necessary to fly the F-22 package at night."

Syria's air defenses were "passive" during the initial bombing runs, Harrigian said.

U.S. and coalition fighter, bomber, attack and remotely piloted aircraft have been involved in the mission, according to Central Command. The Air Force, however, has flown the most airstrikes of Operation Inherent Resolve in Syria and Iraq. It is responsible for 60 percent of the bombing runs and 90 percent of the mobility flights. The service has not been specific about which jets are flying bombing runs since the F-22's flights on the first night.

'So help me God'

His fight to not compromise his atheist beliefs sparked a constitutional debate across the Air Force and led to a major change affecting thousands of atheist and agnostic airmen.

And most of the Air Force doesn't even know his name.

On Aug. 25, the anonymous, atheist enlisted airman, stationed at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, was told the Air Force would not accept his reenlistment contract because he had crossed out the phrase "so help me God." He had two options, he was told: Sign the contract without alteration and recite an oath concluding with "so help me God;" or leave the Air Force.

He reached out to the American Humanist Association's Appignani Humanist Legal Center, which threatened to sue if the airman was not allowed to reenlist without having to swear to a deity. AHA attorney Monica Miller said requiring that portion of the oath would violate Article VI of the Constitution, which prohibits requiring religious tests to hold an office or public trust.

The Air Force used to allow airmen to omit that phrase for personal reasons, but in a quiet update to Air Force Instruction 36-2606 in October 2013, dropped that option.

The Air Force first said its hands were tied because the reenlistment oath law as passed by Congress didn't allow airmen to opt out of the religious clause.

But the Air Force stood alone. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps each confirmed that they do not require their troops to say "so help me God" if they choose not to, and a Pentagon official said there was no legal requirement to say those words.

On Sept. 9, five days after the AHA announced it was representing the airman, the Air Force asked the Defense Department's general counsel for a legal review of the rule. On Sept. 17 — nearly two weeks after the issue became public — the Air Force announced that it would no longer require any airmen who take the oath of enlistment and officer appointment to swear an oath to God.

Today, the airman is still anonymous. In written responses to questions submitted to his lawyer, the airman said he reenlisted after the Air Force reversed itself.

He said his fellow airmen — both religious and agnostics — were supportive of his efforts, and that he didn't suffer any blowback from standing his ground.

"The experience was stressful, but I'm glad I stood up for my rights," he said. "I was surprised by the praise I've received from believers and nonbelievers who just wanted to thank me and congratulate me for taking a stand against religious discrimination. Even people who disagree with me about the existence of a god agree that the Air Force should not be forcing religion on anyone."

Mustache March

When Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh announced the Air Force-wide "Mustache March," airmen were at the ready on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages posting photos of family, friends and unit members displaying their best sculpted facial hair.

But some airmen were less enthusiastic. Maj. Jennifer Holmes, a senior trial counsel stationed at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, wrote an opinion piece, "In Mustache March, I lose," in Air Force Times' March 24 issue. Her intent, she said, was to start a dialogue on the "boys club" tradition.

Holmes' opinion got more than 12,000 page views on the Air Force Times Facebook page and it got mixed reviews in 145 comments. But Holmes had at least one ally, retired Navy Cmdr. Sara Zak, who sent a complaint to the Air Force inspector general's office.

Even if Mustache March was intended to boost morale, Zak told Air Force Times her main issue with the event was that it crippled any progress against military sexual assault because she sees the mustache challenge as a sexist act.

"I think Mustache March is a sign of how casually [military leadership] is approaching a solution. Everyone [in the Defense Department] at this point is tasked to not tolerate, condone or ignore anything and everything that has to do with sexual assault or harassment. And then General Welsh ordered this Mustache March challenge, which I see as insubordinate," Zak said.

"I would love to at least think that General Welsh wouldn't do this again, but my guess is ... since it has existed for quite a long time, units will continue to do it," she said.

Lt. Col. Allen Herritage recently told Air Force Times that there has been no decision on a Mustache March in 2015.

Former Staff Sgt. Aaron Driver

Staff Sgt. Aaron Driver didn't intend to become the most hated man in the Air Force. But when the radar technician wrote a letter to Air Force Times spelling out "Why I won't re-enlist," hundreds of airmen around the country piled on.

In Driver's April letter, he spelled out the strain that repeated deployments placed on his marriage, the frustration he felt about threatened cuts to his benefits, and the nitpicking, rules-obsessed attitude displayed by his leaders.

The final straw came when his first sergeant read him the riot act over his out-of-regulation mustache – during Mustache March, a forcewide event heavily promoted by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Welsh and celebrating a famed fighter pilot who proudly flaunted grooming regulations.

Some readers thought Driver was a long-awaited truth teller. But many called him everything from a selfish whiner to a cancer on the Air Force.

"It doesn't have to be miserable," Driver, a Savannah, Georgia, native said in May during a deployment to Southwest Asia. "But to point that out is apparently taboo."

In a Dec. 15 interview, Driver said he did indeed leave the Air Force officially in August and returned to Georgia, where he got a job in landscaping. Driver used his GI Bill benefits to enroll in Chattahoochee Technical College and study horticulture. He plans to graduate next year, and eventually hopes to start his own landscaping business, possibly focusing on organic gardening.

But after he returned from his final deployment in May and before he went on terminal leave, Driver found he was persona non grata to many of his fellow airmen. He's called a few airmen he knew since leaving, but hasn't heard back from them.

"By the time I got home, it was as if I barely existed anymore," Driver said. "I could definitely feel everyone waiting for me to slide away. I've kind of let that part of my old life go, as sad as that is, because I knew so many of those people for so long."

And in what he took as a final slight from the Air Force, he wasn't presented his achievement medal in person at his final drill or other gathering. He only found out he had been awarded that medal when he received his personnel files in November. Included in the file, without explanation, was a certificate for his achievement medal. The actual medal was not included.

"I could definitely feel the cold shoulder there," Driver said.

He doesn't regret writing his letter, and he's glad the conversation he hoped to start appears to be continuing in the Air Force. Col. Donald Grannan, the commander of the 88th Communications Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio published a column in November that said a lack of support and encouragement from superiors led a talented young airman to leave.

"My first thought was that not only was it a fantastic piece, but it made me feel a little justified to see an individual in his position to kind of acknowledge a lot of the same issues that I was attempting to bring light to," Driver said. "It seems like other people are noticing and it's not just something that disappeared after I did."

But the reaction to Grannan's column was far different. Instead of being labeled a "cancer" by other airmen, Grannan's commentary went viral and prompted thousands of comments, mostly supportive.

"He's a colonel, and individuals still in the service have more respect for an individual who has that rank," Driver said when asked why he thought people had a different reaction to Grannan's commentary. "I was an easy target. Instead of dealing with the issue, it was easy to write me off as the whiner, the guy that couldn't take it, wanted to complain instead of actually doing something. And the nature of my article was much more personal, compared to his where he shared the story of another person. It makes it easier to look at the person instead of what they're saying."

Driver still has the infamous mustache that raised his first sergeant's ire, and once he went on terminal leave he began growing a beard to match it.

"The great thing about the line of work I've chosen is, it does have to be groomed, but I can have it," Driver said. "They looked at me very odd when I asked them about their grooming standards."

Col. Donald Grannan

As for Grannan, he is still amazed at the reaction his November commentary continues to draw.

Grannan's column, "How did we lose this young Airman?" related the story of a bright, talented and driven airman he knew who chose not to reenlist because "in her words, the Air Force had made it clear it didn't want her." He pointed the finger at failures in the service's leadership culture.

The column went viral, and many airmen who commented on it applauded Grannan for speaking out.

"My email kind of blew up," Grannan said. "I was getting emails from all over the Air Force, from folks that I know and a lot of folks I didn't know."

Grannan said he sees the conversation continuing, both in public and in private. As one example, he pointed to a Dec. 8 column from Lt. Col. Barry Little, the 90th Operation Support Squadron commander at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, which concluded, "We need to better equip our airmen for the mission and the future by developing them as thinkers and leaders."

"I've gotten emails and phone calls from chief master sergeants telling me they're definitely discussing it at their level, which I thought was outstanding," Grannan said. "Discussing the issue of being engaged leaders. I've heard of [Airman Leadership School] students and others that have brought up the issue with base and wing leadership panels and Q and A sessions. I've heard of at least one ALS instructor from another base who sent me an email saying he wanted to include it in his class discussion."

Grannan said he thinks other midlevel Air Force leaders feel, as he does, that with the Air Force shrinking to its smallest level since the 1940s, units have much less room to absorb the loss of superstar airmen. To prevent those losses, leaders need to engage with their airmen, Grannan said.

Grannan said he saw some criticize his column as supporting leaders turning a blind eye to slipping standards on things like fitness in the Air Force. He thinks those critics missed the point. Leaders do have to focus on standards, he said, but shouldn't be myopic or arbitrary and capricious in their enforcement of rules, and understand that sometimes, case-by-case judgments need to be made.

"The way to guard against that is through engagement and knowing your troops," Grannan said. "We're the greatest Air Force on the planet because we can have these discussions. These discussions are healthy."

He said the Pentagon's top brass hasn't reached out to him about ways to improve leadership in the Air Force, and he isn't planning to take part in any official panels or events on leadership. That would be presumptuous, he said. But he does hope airmen keep talking about these issues throughout 2015.

"I don't have all the answers, and I know that other colonels, chiefs, first sergeants, squadron commanders, they don't have all the answers either," Grannan said. "But I think that if we discuss this and we keep it in the forefront, we can identify these issues when they come up and fix them. I plan to keep the conversation going."

Staff Sgt. James Seegel

An airman who saved 50 airmen's jobs that would have been lost because of a computer error will transition in January into his new career as an Air Force reservist.

Staff Sgt. James Seegel alerted his chain of command and the Air Force Personnel Center in August that five of his class members were removed from Enlisted Retention Board eligibility when they should have met the board. As a result of his finding, officials gave 50 airmen who were told that they must separate by Jan. 31 the option of remaining on active duty. Seegel, however, was still told he must separate.

Seegel's gesture got attention beyond his chain of command — Seegel recently told Air Force Times he received an email from Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force James Cody but he did not specify what Cody said.

Seegel has investigations pending with the offices of Congressman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.. He has not heard back from the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records, and the congressional investigations are on hold until the Air Force responds to their queries.

Security Forces Museum

The sudden closure in August of the decades-old Security Forces Museum at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland incited a social media firestorm. Dozens of former and current members of the Air Force's largest career field openly lamented the decision while imploring Air Education and Training Command — via a Facebook page and a White House petition — to rethink it.

Air Force officials have.

The Security Forces Museum and the Airman Heritage Museum, which was also closed last summer, will both reopen in the spring under the consolidated name Airman Heritage Museum and Enlisted Character Development Center, Air Education and Training Command historian Gary Boyd wrote in an email.

Fundraising efforts are underway to construct an 85,000-square-foot facility to house the new center, which is planned for the north end of Lackland's parade field. The $50 million privately funded facility could open as early as 2017.

In the meantime, the museums, beginning in the spring, will reopen in their current locations. Ideally, officials would like to find a single, interim facility because operating the museums separately will require splitting limited resources and paying for the upkeep of two buildings, Boyd said.

New staff "will begin to flow into the Museum in January 2015, and we'll be able to open for regular hours in Spring, as we prepare to meet the new mission of [Basic Military Training] Capstone Week and public visits," Boyd said. "We will have three enlisted and three civilian positions, plus one intern."

A chief master sergeant will oversee the effort. "Our goal is to build pride and heritage knowledge in our newest Air Force members," Boyd said.

Former Tech. Sgt. Greg Autry, creator of the "Save the Air Force Security Forces Museum" Facebook page that grew to include more than 5,000 members, said in an email he understands budget constraints have forced the Air Force to combine the two museums into one.

Autry remains hopeful the new plans will maintain much of the present-day Security Forces Museum.

"Obviously, there will be some give and take in order to include the other exhibits," he said.

Lt. Col. Craig Perry

Nine months after his controversial removal from command of a basic training support squadron, Lt. Col. Craig Perry has settled into his new job as an analyst for Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

Perry said he enjoys having a job to do after months spent in limbo over a commander-directed investigation that ultimately led to his upending.

The inquiry concluded that, as commander of the 737th Training Support Squadron, Perry carried on unprofessional relationships with noncommissioned officers in his unit and that interactions with subordinates undermined wing leadership. The CDI also found Perry made comments critical of his boss and allowed favoritism to affect how he treated a subordinate.

In addition to being relieved of command March 27, Perry was issued a career-ending referral officer performance report and a letter of reprimand, the latter of which was filed in his officer selection record. He was also reassigned to Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, although he is able to stay in San Antonio under an Exceptional Family Member Program deferment due to his wife's health.

Perry maintains he was the victim of toxic leadership, leaders whom he says grossly mischaracterized squadron outreach efforts by him and his wife, Caroline, who revived a languishing Key Spouse Program within the squadron.

Dozens of readers agreed with that assessment after a May 30 Air Force Times story went viral. Those readers said Perry was unjustifiably punished for doing what the military demands of its best leaders.

A Naval War College professor who took it upon himself to review the CDI report said that the investigator made conflicting statements and drew contradictory conclusions — and that the evidence failed to support Perry's removal.

Since his relief from duty, Perry has filed congressional inquiries and an Article 138 against his former commander, retired Col. Deborah Liddick. He said he also filed a complaint with the Air Force Inspector General five months ago but has yet to hear back.

Perry said he next plans to file a complaint with the Defense Department IG.

Before the CDI, Perry was on track for promotion to colonel in 2014.

"I was in the top 15 percent of my peers," he said.

But the LOR in his records — combined with a recent "do not promote" recommendation to the colonel central selection board — guaranteed he would be passed over, Perry said. "If I am passed over again next year, I will be forced to retire."

WWII POW Medal awardees

Seventy years after their capture, eight surviving veterans who were imprisoned in a notorious internment camp in Switzerland in World War II were awarded the POW Medal.

More than 140 airmen were held at Wauwilermoos for trying to escape the neutral country after their planes went down inside its borders. But they were ineligible for the POW Medal, which recognized only service members held by enemies in declared armed conflicts.

An amendment broadening the terms of the award was finally passed in October 2013, thanks in large part to Army Maj. Dwight Mears, who for years pleaded for the recognition. Mears' grandfather, who died before he was born, was one of the 143 prisoners.

In an April 30 ceremony at the Pentagon, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh presented the POW Medal to the eight surviving men: Lt. Col. James Misuraca, Maj. James Moran, 1st Lts. Paul Gambaiana and James Mahon, Tech. Sgt. Alva Moss, Staff Sgt. John Fox and Sgts. William Blackburn and George Thursby.

Senior Airman Charles Wilson

The Air Force announced in October it would seek the death penalty in the case against Senior Airman Charles Wilson III of Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, accused of killing his fiancee, Tameda Ferguson, and their unborn child.

Wilson was already charged with arson and murder in connection with an October 2011 fire and with communicating a threat in the alleged attack on a female technical sergeant in July 2012.

Air Force prosecutors want to try Wilson on all the charges at once, while the defense team argued at a motion hearing in December to sever the charges into three separate trials. Defense attorneys are also attempting to toss out evidence seized during the search of Wilson's home, Robins spokesman Roland Leach told Air Force Times Dec. 10.

Wilson, a support team member with the 461st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, was arrested in August and charged with killing Ferguson who was found shot to death at her home in Dawson, Georgia, about 100 miles south of Robins. She was 8½ months pregnant.

Senior defense counsel Maj. Will Babor told Air Force Times in June that he is concerned he is "not a qualified death penalty lawyer. [Defense co-counsel] Capt. Adam Newsome and I are not qualified death penalty lawyers. To be frank, there's no lawyer in the Air Force who's qualified to defend airman Wilson."

Chief Trial Judge of the Air Force Col. Vance Spath — who is presiding over the motion hearings and will oversee the court-martial — will announce rulings on the December motions this month, Leach said. Motion hearings will continue through May; the earliest anticipated date for Wilson's court-martial is June, Leach said.

While Wilson faces the death penalty if convicted, most death sentences are overturned on appeal — the last military execution occurred more than 50 years ago. The Air Force last carried out the death penalty in 1954.

Colleen Boland

The 71/2 days airman-turned-activist Colleen Boland spent in jail in November were reminiscent of boot camp — austere living quarters, blazing florescent lights and loud voices echoing through sleepless nights.

"If I can make it through basic training in that kind of environment," the retired senior master sergeant told herself, she could endure a week behind bars.

Boland opted to go to jail Nov. 19 instead of paying a fine after she pleaded guilty to trespassing during an October protest of a Schuyler County energy company that plans to expand natural gas storage near the largest of New York's Finger Lakes.

Boland and fellow activists who call themselves Seneca Lake Defenders — more than 80 of whom had been arrested as of mid-December — said they oppose the project because of the potential environmental impacts. The company, Crestwood, maintains the project is safe.

An administration specialist who retired from the Air Force in 1995, Boland joined the environmental cause a few years ago after watching the 2010 documentary "Gasland" on the dangers of drilling for natural gas. She said she chose to highlight her military experience during the protest "to dispel the notion that the only people standing up ... are tree-hugging hippies or out-of-touch dreamers."

Just as on the day of her arrest, Boland wore her Air Force fleece jacket as she was led away from court in handcuffs following her Nov. 19 sentence.

"From my perspective, I was not the trespasser. This company is the trespasser. They are trespassing on the shores of this lake. It is toxic trespassing. The idea that legally I was charged with trespassing, how in good conscious could I pay a fine for that? It was a moral and ethical decision to me," she said of electing to go to jail. "It didn't make any sense that I'll just pay my way out of this, give my money to this county."

Her confinement was, as she expected, uncomfortable, Boland said. "When I hit the 31/2-day point [of the sentence], I thought, 'Oh gosh, I'm not even halfway through. This is going to be very long.' But I had the privilege of knowing I was going to get out."

She was released just after midnight on Thanksgiving, which allowed her to spend the holiday with family and friends. And the experience did not deter her from future activism, Boland said. She has already been back to the protest site since her release, although she was not among those who trespassed.

"If it is deemed there is a value in me trespassing again, my decision is the same," she said. "I would do it again."

Staff Sgt. Jessica Field

The first female airman to become a certified martial arts instructor through the Marine Corps Martial Arts Center of Excellence at Quantico, Virginia, is making progress to certify more airmen herself.

Staff Sgt. Jessica Field graduated from the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program instructor course July 18 and returned to her station at Fort Meade, Maryland, where she instructs three airmen and a handful of Navy and Marine Corps members in her own MMA class.

Field said the three airmen should graduate her course in the next few weeks to become tan-belt certified. The students, who take her class twice a week, log their hours so Field can eventually grant their official certification on behalf of the Marine Corps.

"I've had awesome support from Air Force leadership from all the way up," Field told Air Force Times Dec. 16. Field, who has her green belt enhanced with the tan instructor-certified tab, has not been able to wear her belt with her uniform; however, her leadership is helping to gain that authorization.

Field is also working toward teaching more students at a higher level of MCMAP. "Hopefully in the spring, I'll ... go for my brown belt, which is the next level in the MCMAP belt process," Field said.