Deployed chief reenlists for last time

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class David Dobrydney
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  Chief Master Sgt. Veronique Nicklas, 379th Expeditionary Medical Group superintendent, reenlisted Sept. 26 for the final time before reaching 30 years in the U.S. Air Force.

The reenlistment ceremony took place on the flightline here in Southwest Asia. "It was an honor and a privilege," Chief Nicklas said of being able to raise her hand one last time among the aircraft whose crews her group works to support.

Chief Nicklas was involved with the Air Force even before her first enlistment on June 2, 1982. When she was in ninth grade a friend introduced her to the Civil Air Patrol. Chief Nicklas joined and would spend her high school years working search-and-recovery missions in Cessnas and spending summers as a volunteer at air shows in Oshkosh, Wis., guiding aircraft to their parking places.

After finishing high school, Chief Nicklas decided to join the active-duty Air Force. "I didn't want to be dependent on my family for college," she said. "This was a way to have a good source of income and go to school at the same time." She performed so well on her CAP written exams and physical assessments that she earned the Billy Mitchell Award, which gave her two stripes before entering basic training.

Chief Nicklas wasn't always a medical Airman. She began her career in the intelligence field, supporting the SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance aircraft. She remembers being stationed in England and learning about sensitive operations before they took place and before the general public was made aware. "Of course, CNN wasn't around back then," Chief Nicklas said.

When the SR-71 program was discontinued in 1990, Chief Nicklas spent some time as a career assistance advisor at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., a job she considered very rewarding. "It was awesome," Chief Nicklas said. "I worked with all [Air Force Specialty Codes], so it gave me a good perspective of what everyone brings to the fight. I had the opportunity to help a lot of people make career decisions."

Following her stint as a CAA, Chief Nicklas retrained into her current specialty as a group superintendent. Her deployment to Southwest Asia, from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is her first of any of the career fields she has been in, and she considers it a high point of her career. Citing the Blood Trans-Shipment Center and the individual first aid kits the 379 EMDG provides for the entire area of responsibility, Chief Nicklas said, "we're not just doing routine care here; we're doing care that's saving lives each and every day. I'm very excited to be here."

Nearly 30 years after she first took the oath of enlistment in the twilight years of the Cold War, Chief Nicklas marvels at the changes she's seen in the Air Force.

"It's definitely a lot more technical in how we do things," she said, recalling that when she first joined rotary telephones were still in use and there were only two typewriters in her group's entire workplace.

Chief Nicklas also mentioned the drastic increase in the operations tempo following 9/11. "When I first came in, many deployments were for humanitarian missions," she said. But more than the technological improvements or the increase in mission tempo, Chief Nicklas is constantly impressed by the capabilities of the Airmen those improve-ments have produced. "Our Airmen are coming in a lot smarter," she said. "I applaud every Airman who signed up after 9/11, whether they stay in for four, six or 20 years."

When asked what kept her reenlisting through the years, she immediately said the people she gets to work with and the camaraderie produced in pursuit of the defense of freedom.

"When you're a civilian, you say you work at a company; when you're in the military you say 'I'm in the Air Force' or 'I'm in the Army,'" Chief Nicklas said. "It's that little word in that makes us bigger and better than what we would be individually."