What is a career in Aviation Resource Management like? This week my guest talks about her career as an aviation resource manager and other things she experienced. She decided to join the military because she wanted to go to college and knew that her parents couldn’t support her financially to attend college. She ended up staying in the Air Force until retirement. It is also the place she met her husband and they raised their family together. In this interview, we talked about her career, the challenge of being deployed with kids and what it was like to live in Japan for seven years, and what she is doing today.
Aviation Resource Management
Michelle served as an Aviation Resource manager and began her career in Idaho. She met her husband shortly after arriving in Idaho when she went to California to surprise a friend. Her friend’s roommate and her clicked and six months later they were married. She was able to get a transfer and moved to California. In California she became a mom and her husband also separated from active duty. Next, they moved to Little Rock, Arkansas where her son was born.
She was looking for a different type of job and was able to get a job at the school house at Kessler AFB in Mississippi. Right before leaving Kessler she went on a deployment to the Philippines.
Deploying to the Philippines
She talked about how hard it was to leave her kids behind. And although video chat was an option she could see the kids growing up before her eyes. She asked to turn off the camera and stay connected through voice calls and letters. It made it easier to be away from her family. Coming home was difficult because they also were preparing to move to Japan. It was as if they couldn’t stop and be a family until after they arrived in Japan.
Moving to Japan
Her family loved being in Japan and they stayed there for seven years. And her husband is currently working in Japan because he enjoyed working for DoDEA. They came back to the states and she began focusing on transitioning. She transitioned out of the military right as the pandemic was beginning. But was able to find a job that she stayed at for a few months before she decided to move back to Mississippi to be closer to family.
Mentioned in this episode:
Book: A Girl’s Guide to Military Service (Coming September 2022)
