Decorated
Airman retires from 167th Airlift Wing
by Staff Sgt Sherree Grebenstein
167th
Airlift Wing
9/17/2009 - MARTINSBURG, W.Va.
-- Surrounded by fellow Airmen, friends and loved
ones Saturday afternoon, Lt. Col. Sandra L. Duiker of the 167th
Airlift Wing capped off an illustrious military career by learning
that she has been put in for two of the highest awards bestowed for
service to one's country and state: the Air Force Legion of Merit
and the West Virginia Legion of Merit.
Col. Roger L. Nye,
commander of the 167th Airlift Wing, told those gathered for the
retirement ceremony that anything less than those awards would not
be suitable to recognize Duiker's accomplishments for her 20-plus
years of military service to her country.
"She has saved many
lives," Nye said.
Duiker, who is retiring after more than 18
years of service with the unit's Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron,
made history earlier this decade when she became the first member of
the 167th Airlift Wing to earn two Bronze Star Medals.
She was
awarded her first Bronze Star Medal in 2002 after establishing the
aeromedical evacuation northern leg of Operation Enduring Freedom
for Turkey, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan after the events of Sept. 11,
2001.
"We had nothing and through extraordinary effort set up an
aeromedical evacuation presence and moved wounded warriors
expeditiously, safely and with highest standards of care," she said.
The flight nurse earned her second Bronze Star in 2004 for
serving as the director of operations at Manas Air Base in
Kyrgyzstan "coordinating another new aeromedical evacuation presence
and developing a database to track aeromedical evacuation personnel,
their demographics and their mission information as well as patient
tracking," she said.
And while Duiker feels honored to have
received the two Bronze Stars for those accomplishments, she noted
that, "it was only successful because of the team we had. If we had
not worked together, the mission could not have been so successful."
Duiker was the commander of the 451st Expeditionary Aeromedical
Evacuation Flight. Responsible for command and control for those
assigned to Operation Enduring Freedom, Duiker also advised the
operations support squadron commander of aeromedical evacuation
operational capabilities and requirements. In addition, she provided
management oversight for those assigned, attached and transiting
aeromedical evacuation elements.
During her career with the
167th Airlift Wing, Duiker held a myriad of titles to include
everything from assistant chief nurse to fulltime senior health
technician while the current commander was assigned to the Air Force
War College.
"My primary job was planning," she said. "Offering
lessons learned from real-world experience for Operational Readiness
Exercises and Operational Readiness Inspections."
Flying
missions around the globe, Duiker has found herself in an array of
countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar, Panama, Somalia, Cuba,
Germany, Venezuela, Hungry, Bosnia, Oman, Turkey, Uzbekistan and
Pakistan.
Prior to joining the 167th Airlift Wing's Aeromedical
Evacuation Squadron in March, 1991, Duiker had a 24-year break in
service after joining the Army Nurse Corps in December 1964.
She
served as an operating room nurse assigned to assisting in
orthopedic reconstruction surgeries on those wounded in Vietnam.
Prior to being discharged from the Army Nurse Corps in January,
1967, Duiker was assigned to Ft. Sam Houston in Texas, Ft. Benning,
Ga., and Ft. Rucker, Ala.
Duiker is retiring after more than 20
years of military in the U.S. Army and West Virginia Air National
Guard combined.
So what prompted Duiker to want to serve her
country again?
Operation Desert Storm.
She comes from a long
line of those who have served in the military.
"Perhaps,
probably, I am the only child of a World War I veteran serving on
active duty in 2009," she said.
Duiker's father, Cleo Colburn,
served in the 339th U.S. Infantry (which was nicknamed The Polar
Bears) as a machine gunner in northern Russia from 1918 until 1919.
Ironically, the fighting in and around Archangel lasted until May of
1919. Duiker said her father fought his last battle in Russia on
April 3, 1919, almost six months after the armistice to end the
First World War.
"He was sent to Russia ... fought against the
Bolsheviks, in and around Archangel, Northern Russia. The winter
campaign was fought in temperatures as cold as 50 degrees below
zero.
"He was a machine gunner and told of interesting and
unique ways of keeping the water cooled guns operational in those
temperature extremes.
"The 339th fought under British command
and had the harshest assignments and the worst food," Duiker said.
"He succumbed to pneumonia and was taken to a British hospital.
Demonstrating their utmost concern for his wellbeing he heard a
British physician say, 'put him in the death area, if he's alive in
the (morning) we'll see about treating him.'"
"Perhaps that's
what sent me to aeromedical evacuation to ensure the modern-day
wounded received more compassionate care," she said.
Duiker's
great grandfathers served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
"Serving in the military comes naturally in our family," she
said. "My two brothers served in World War II - one in Guadalcanal,
the other as an Army Air Corps aviator. Our sons and two grandsons
have served and are serving in the Army, Navy, Marines and Air
Force."
Duiker and her husband of more than 30 years have six
children. Three of the couple's four sons chose to make a career out
of the military.
"Our two daughters married men who had military
service," she said.
Lt. Col. Sandra Cotton, chief nurse, said
that Duiker - having sons serving in the armed forces - was another
reason she returned to serve her country in March 1991 as a nurse
with the 167th Airlift Wing.
"Lt. Col. Duiker is one of the most
patriotic people I know," she said.
Cotton said Duiker "took the
call to duty personally" and deployed six times in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Perhaps
just making it to drill might be considered a feat in itself for
Duiker.
After moving to Texas in 1993, Duiker faced a 23-hour,
1,458 mile road trip to fulfill her military obligation. She
currently resides in Kosse, Texas, about 100 miles east of Fort Hood
and 150 miles south of Dallas.
When asked whether she would
change anything about her two decades of military service, Duiker
said she wouldn't navigate off the previous course.
"What I have
experienced is incomparable," she said. "Were there times when I
could have made a better decision? In retrospect as a Monday morning
quarterback, sure."
"However, I could look in the mirror every
morning and say, 'Well, I gave it my best.' If that is how you
operate, you can be at peace with yourself and your life."
Looking back on her long, highly-decorated military career,
Duiker reflected on the many personal milestones she had achieved.
And while promotions, medals, decorations and earning her master
wings brought back special memories, it was the journey itself that
apparently kept her focused.
"The real highpoints are the
events, the camaraderie, the incidental but deeply meaningful
encounters, and the quiet feeling of accomplishment at the end of a
terribly stressful action," she said.
"Combat operations are not
my bailiwick - it's the aftermath of combat in the swirling
mixmaster of war that's my thing," she said. "I am a flight nurse,
planning missions with a myriad of details; taking care of and
transporting our wounded warriors is what I do.
Adding: "And I
do it with every bit of energy and ounce of good sense that I have."
Over her career in the West Virginia Air National Guard, Duiker
has undergone thousands of hours of training.
"It's important to
put those hours of training to use," she said. "My personal goal was
to deploy (overseas) each calendar year."
And from 1992 until
August, 2009 she accomplished her goal save for twice.
"I
suppose two highlights of a very eventful career involved Operation
Enduring Freedom," Duiker said. "(We had) challenges to be met and
conquered."
Officials with the Allied Forces Central Europe
tasked Duiker by name to set up the aeromedical evacuation
operations for the north area of Afghanistan in October, 2001.
"It was an awesome task, getting personnel, equipment, a place
to set up, etc.," she said. "By the time I went home (the area) was
well settled and operational."
Another memorable career
milestone came for Duiker when she was again requested by name by
Allied Forces Central Europe officials to establish aeromedical
evacuation operations in a NATO/ International Security Assistance
Force environment.
"It was not unlike the beginning of Operation
Enduring Freedom, getting personnel, equipment, a place to set up
and getting the aeromedical evacuation established and underway,"
she said."
Duiker has mixed emotions on retiring from the
military. She said she'll miss "my 167th extended family members
(and) equally the opportunity to deploy with worldwide aeromedical
evacuation members."
"Deployments with multi-service and
multi-unit "Rainbow" personnel bring out the best from every
member," she noted.
Duiker said deployments allow for "new
outlooks on common issues, new processes to accomplish tasks.
Everyone has something to offer and much to learn."
And what
advice does the retiring flight nurse have for those joining the
167th Airlift Wing's Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron?
"Remember
why you joined; appreciate and absorb every lick of training
offered," Duiker said. "Then it is your personal responsibility to
take what you have been given and do the mission.
"It is not
always comfortable and lord knows we would all rather be home with
family and friends, but each of us has a responsibility to serve our
nation.
Adding: "Freedom is not free and we have volunteered to
give every bit of our being ensuring that our country does remain
free and since we have all volunteered, we have a responsibility to
serve to our utmost."
Duiker's military awards and decorations
include the Bronze Star with one device, Meritorious Service Medal
with one device, Air Force Commendation Medal with three devices,
Air Force Achievement Medal with one device, Joint Meritorious Unit
Award, Meritorious Unit Award with one device, Air Force Outstanding
Unit Award with Valor and two devices, Combat Readiness Medal with
seven devices, National Defense Service Medal with two devices,
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with two devices, Afghanistan
Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with one device, Global War on
Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service
Medal, Armed Forces Service Medal with two devices, Humanitarian
Service Medal with two devices, Air Force Overseas Ribbon Short with
five devices, Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon with Gold
Border with five devices, Air Force Longevity Service with four
devices, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with 10 "M" devices, one device;
Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon (Pistol), Air Force Training
Medal and NATO Medal with one device.
She has also earned the
following state awards: West Virginia Meritorious Service Medal, the
Louisiana Emergency Service Medal, West Virginia Distinguished Unit
Award with one device, West Virginia National Guard Minuteman
Ribbon, West Virginia Service Ribbon with two devices, West Virginia
Emergency Service Ribbon and the West Virginia Achievement Ribbon.
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