#athenassisters

[phototreasures-blog]

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Athena's Sisters & Friends at the NABVETS 4th Annual Shining The Light on Military Women. Thank you Riches & Glory Photography. #AthenasSisters #womenveteransmatter

[tiffheartsthebeach-blog]

Why I joined the Air Force

In my final semester of nursing school, I received a flyer in the mail from an Air Force recruiter.  The flyer boasted of array of enticing benefits including education, medical, retirement, and the opportunity to see the world!  Reading this felt like I had just received a golden ticket to the most exciting ride of my life!  It’s a bit ironic that I had once laughed at the idea of serving in the military, saying that people were crazy for joining the military, but there was something that drew me to serve.  Of course I had a higher sense of patriotism since the events on September 11, 2011. And the benefits and opportunity to travel sounded amazing to my 22-year-old self.  I will say that the pull was something much stronger than any of this...I was being called to serve.

Over the next few weeks, I visited the recruiter multiple times asking as many questions as I could think of in search of a reason to not join...to not turn my whole life upside down…to not move away from the comfort home and everyone and everything that I knew…to stick around and fulfill the scholarship requirement to the local hospital and not have to pay back $$$$.  I came up empty handed.  Just a few short months later, I commissioned into the United States Air Force Nurse Corps as a second lieutenant.  A bright eyed, ambitious, adventurous, and courageous young woman who was about to set off into the wild blue yonder, flying high into sun!