Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Matthew Plew | 2nd Lt. Jenna Colón, 48th Contracting Squadron contracting specialist, and her...... read more read more
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Upon its completion, Chief Colón saluted his daughter smartly and embraced her with a hug.
2nd Lt. Jenna Colón, 48th Contracting Squadron contracting specialist, never believed she would join the U.S. Air Force, let alone have the opportunity to re-enlist her own father, Chief Master Sgt. Jason Colón, 387th Air Expeditionary Group superintendent, during a ceremony at Royal Air Force Mildenhall, March 21, 2016.
“I wasn’t very fond of the military growing up,” she said. “My dad was gone all the time; but while I was in college, I started talking to some other Air Force service members and realized that there were career fields out there that could offer me the flexibility of more ‘traditional’ duty hours.”
Jenna recently began her Air Force story when she commissioned through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at East Carolina University, N.C., and reported to RAF Lakenheath on July 1, 2015. In contrast, her father entered the Air Force in 1990 as a weather observer specialist and spent the last 23 years rising through the enlisted ranks, traveling both home and abroad in support of multiple operations around the globe.
“I’m proud of her decision to serve,” Chief Master Sgt. Colón said. “My father retired as a chief, his father served in World War II, as well as his father who served in World War I; but what’s most interesting is that my mother’s father, Edwin Williams, served in the British military during World War I and was stationed at RAF Lakenheath,” he continued. “So with Lakenheath being Jenna’s first assignment, it’s like we’ve come full circle.”
Representing five generations of service, the Colón family has a lot to be proud of, with the re-enlistment ceremony being one of several milestones along the way.
Three years prior, Chief Colón and his father, Peter, achieved an extremely rare Air Force accomplishment, joining less than a hand-full of first and second generation chief master sergeants. A group one could arguably lobby as being 1 percent of the 1 percent.
Both of them thanked all who attended before gathering with their family for photos and exchanging warm sentiments. Together, the Colóns look forward to the next unwritten chapter of their family’s long legacy; always thankful for the opportunities that life has given them, but never boastful.
*Author’s note: to read about more milestones in the Colóns military family, visit these links: http://www.afcent.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/4779/Article/589807/chief-honors-daughter-marking-five-generations-of-service.aspx
http://www.minot.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123401246
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2016 08:09 |
| Story ID: | 193744 |
| Location: | GB |
| Web Views: | 179 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Tradition of honor: A Colón family legacy, by SMSgt Matthew Plew, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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