Meet Your Military
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Senior Airman Carlos Taveras, left, a structural maintenance apprentice, disassembles a mandrel from a tube bender while his twin brother, Senior Airman Emmanuel Taveras, an aircraft electrical and environmental journeyman, looks on at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, March 17, 2016. The twin brothers, from the Bronx, New York, deployed with the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron in January. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman) AL UDEID AIR BASE, Qatar, April 5, 2016 — Twin brothers often share similar experiences from birth to high school graduation, but only a few can claim to have deployed together while serving in the same unit.
Air Force Senior Airman Emmanuel Taveras, an electrical and environmental journeyman, and his twin brother, Senior Airman Carlos Taveras, an aircraft structural maintenance apprentice, are assigned to the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron and work in the same building. They arrived here in January, only six days apart.Emmanuel said serving in a deployed location with his brother is a dream come true. “We always wanted this, to be assigned to the same base,” Emmanuel said. “It’s unique to have that happen, especially at a deployed location; we’re so thankful.”
Carlos said there are benefits to being deployed with his brother. “Having him here makes the experience so much easier to deal with,” he said. “It can be stressful at times, but having my brother around makes things better.”
Read more: Meet Your Military: Twin Brothers Deploy Together
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Tony Meyer, a 30-year Navy veteran, serves as tour guide for a group at the Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio, Texas, March 23, 2016. Meyer, a Brooke Army Medical Center volunteer since 2004, was named Office of Volunteer Services’ Volunteer of the Year for BAMC and will now vie for honors at the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston and San Antonio United Way levels. Army photo by Robert T. ShieldsJOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas, April 1, 2016 — Joyce Earnest sat in the waiting area anxiously awaiting an update on her husband, who was undergoing bypass surgery at San Antonio Military Medical Center here.
The first person who came out to reassure her was not the doctor or nurse, she recalled, but a volunteer.“I was so grateful for all of the care, especially from that volunteer … I decided that day to come back after I retired and give back,” she said.
Twelve years later, in 2012, Earnest became the first volunteer clerk in the intensive care unit. “I love helping people -- whether it’s a patient or family member or the staff -- using my knowledge and experience to be there for them, even if it’s just holding someone’s hand or providing a shoulder to cry on,” she said.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Volunteers Find Serving "Labor of Love"
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Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Colleen Dibble, right, a master-at-arms assigned to Naval Support Activity Bethesda, Md., makes a tackle during a Washington Prodigy game against the Philadelphia Firebirds in Washington, May 9, 2015. Courtesy photoBETHESDA, Md., March 30, 2016 — About 18 percent of active-duty sailors are women, and serving in the even more male-dominated field of master-at-arms, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Colleen Dibble knows about being the only woman in the room.
For 11 months, she was the only female master-at-arms during her first assignment to Misawa Air Base, Japan, and has been one of the few women to work in Naval Support Activity Bethesda’s security department since she came to the installation in 2013.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Sailor Tackles Goals on Football Field
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Navy Lt. Kimberly Rios talks with Navy Junior ROTC cadets from East Aurora (Ill.) High School at the 2016 Navy Junior ROTC Area 3 West regional academic, athletic and drill competition in the Pacific Fleet ceremonial drill hall at Recruit Training Command, Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.,, Feb. 8, 2016. Navy photo by Scott A. ThornbloomGREAT LAKES, Ill., March 31, 2016 — Navy Lt. Kimberly Rios made a reconnection with her past when she was promoted to lieutenant Feb. 8.
That reconnection was with her East Aurora High School Navy Junior ROTC unit and her former Navy Science instructor, retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Greg Fayfar, who was on hand to pin Rios' lieutenant bars on her khaki shirt collar. It also allowed her to reflect how being part of Navy Junior ROTC molded and guided her to being a member of the Navy Judge Advocate General Corps.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Lieutenant Credits Navy Success to Junior ROTC Program
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California Army National Guard Sgt. Cassandra Peel, an avionics mechanic in Bravo Company, 640th Aviation Support Battalion, 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, practices taekwondo kicks at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, April 2, 2016. Peel has practiced taekwondo for six years and is now a second degree black belt. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Ian Kummer
CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, April 19, 2016 — The sun is setting over the horizon here as Army Sgt. Cassandra Peel practices one of her final kicks of the day. Precision. Power. Passion. These words come to mind as she delivers one swift kick after another. It is evident that this woman is in her element.
Peel, an avionics mechanic with Bravo Company, 640th Aviation Support Battalion, 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, is a self-proclaimed “Army brat,” born at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Read more: Meet Your Military: Soldier Combines Lessons From Military Service, Martial Arts