Daughter follows family path by joining military

  • Published
  • By Stacy Vaughn
  • 445th Public Affairs
A father assigned to the 445th Airlift Wing shares a special connection with his daughter - she decided to follow in his footsteps by joining the Air Force, but is going the active duty route. Senior Master Sgt. Tim Reuber, 445th Operations Support Squadron, spent the day sharing his experiences as reservist with his daughter, Erica. 

"The intent of bringing my daughter, Erica, to the wing was to give her some perspective on what our reserve unit does for the Department of Defense. We have a very rich history here (at the 445th), and I wanted her to understand that when she hears, 'just a reserve unit' or 'well the reservists just train,' I wanted her to see what the reserve airlift component does," Sergeant Reuber said. "She will be able to take this information and apply it to her first duty assignment." 

"I'm excited about my first assignment and my new job. I'm going to be an Air Force personnelist assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. I'll find out once I get there exactly what I'll be doing,'" Erica said. Erica reported for duty April 15. 

One of the first stops Sergeant Reuber took his daughter to visit was the 89th Airlift Squadron. Here, he showed her Maj. Leroy Homer's biography on the wall. Maj. Homer was part of the 445th Airlift Wing from 1995 to 2000 and died Sept. 11, 2001, while serving as the first officer on United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville, Pa. 

"She has heard me talk about him in the past, but seeing the plaque put it in perspective. She was very moved," Sergeant Reuber said. He then took her to the scheduling area so she could see how the aircrews project and plan for missions. They also stopped by current operations where all the aircraft taskings come in from Air Mobility Command.
"I wanted her to see the wing as it functions, not just from a wiring diagram," Sergeant Reuber said. 

One of her last stops of the day was to see the maintenance side of the wing. Erica visited one of the maintenance hangers and received a tour of a C-5 Galaxy from Master Sgt. Bob Brown, 89th Airlift Squadron flight engineer scheduler, who explained what the aircraft is capable of doing, how a "typical" mission is manned, and how much outsized cargo the plane can deliver. 

"I'm glad my dad showed me around where he works so I can understand what the reservists do at a wing," Erica said. 

Sergeant Reuber said back in February, he and family went to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to watch Erica graduate from Air Force Basic Military Training. 

"What amazed me about going back to a place I had not seen in 26 years was that we still have young people willing to go and do for our great nation. Not just Airman Basic Erica Reuber, but multiply it by the thousands of young people that go through all of the service BMTs to serve our nation, we all should be humbled," Sergeant Reuber said.

He also said his family has a history of military service. All of his uncles fought in World War II, serving in both the Navy and Army. His brother and sister-in-law are both Army veterans. And now his daughter has decided to serve her country. 

"This makes our family very proud, happy and it has touched us deeply."