Photo By Master Sgt. Eboni Reams | Three Airmen from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania pose for a photo in Southwest Asia. All of...... read more read more
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Military members come from all over the country and many from small towns yet serving nearly 6,000 miles away from home are three Airmen from the same small town deployed to an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia.
The three Airmen have military service in common as well as being proud to be from Dillsburg, Pennsylvania and graduates of Northern York High School.
“While talking with an Airman he looks at me and after looking at my last name, asks if I have a sister who’s a teacher,” said Capt. Matt Griffie, 332nd Operations Support Squadron weather flight commander and NYHS class of 2003 graduate. “I look at him and say ‘yes’, with a slightly skeptical look, and come to find out my sister was his teacher.”
The Airman was Senior Airman Matthew Bellan, 332nd Communication Squadron telecommunications technician and NYHS class of 2014 graduate.
“He looked very similar to [his sister] who had taught me in school,” said Bellan. “Then I caught a glance at his nametag and, at that moment, I knew I had to ask.”
Griffie met yet another Dillsburg native serving in the same location, who had asked him about the Millersville University sweater he was wearing a few months later.
“Since Millersville is a somewhat smaller university and my mother attended school there as well as some other family members, I began a conversation with Capt. Griffie about where we were from in Pennsylvania,” said Senior Airman Andrew O’Hop, 332nd Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron fuel systems journeyman and NYHS class of 2013 graduate. “After a little bit of conversing, we discovered we both went to Northern High School in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. He proceeded to tell me of Matt who was also from Northern and graduated a year after me.”
All three agree running into each other while deployed is very interesting and they felt a sense of comradery and fortunate to have fellow service members with similar experiences.
“I know the Air Force is one of the smallest branches in the military, but I didn’t think it was this small,” Bellan said. “It is awesome to know that the organization you work for, that is much bigger than yourself, has brought a few of us from the same tiny little town together.”
These gentlemen smiled as they spoke of the annual Dillsburg events and memories they all grew up loving and looking forward to from adolescence to adulthood.
“Along with Farmers Fair and the New Year’s Eve Pickle Drop, some of my best memories from Dillsburg were walking around the track during Northern football games, as well as, the midnight trips to the local gas station,” O’Hop said.
Dillsburg produced a weather officer, communications specialist and fuel systems mechanic all working completely different jobs and every one holding importance to accomplishing a greater goal in the region.
| Date Taken: | 01.12.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 01.24.2017 07:27 |
| Story ID: | 221118 |
| Location: | (UNDISCLOSED LOCATION) |
| Web Views: | 135 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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