Photo By Master Sgt. Chelsea FitzPatrick | As the only daughter in a family of military brothers, Tech. Sgt. Lily Gonzales, the...... read more read more
Subscribe
AL DHAFRA AIR BASE, United Arab Emirates-- For Tech. Sgt. Lily Gonzalez, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the public health team at Al Dhafra Air Base, her favorite part of her job?
“The people, I mean, I love people,” Gonzales said,” I want to hug everybody.”
Luckily, Gonzales is a member of a work center she refers to as having a “revolving public health door,” a place where service members can come to get preventive treatment and processes put in place to keep illness and injury at bay.
“Calling 911 gets you assistance when you’re already hurt, but we’re here to prevent you from getting hurt before it happens,” Gonzales said.
A sort of “jack of all trades,” public health team, part of the 380th Expeditionary Medical Group here, handles matters from COVID-19 mitigation, ensuring meals ready to eat are safe, trapping mosquitos to quell population growth, and processing members deploying forward and those heading back home.
“There’s nothing like when you’re out-processing someone and tell them, ‘Have a safe flight home,’ it’s the best feeling,” Gonzales said.
On her first deployment at Al Dhafra Air Base, Gonzales knew when she arrived last fall that she needed to find the niche where she could socially fit in. For her, a master resiliency trainer, she found that in a position running the Phantom University.
“Master resiliency trainers, we’re kind of like, this group of people that goes around spreading sunshine,” Gonzales said.
After settling in, Gonzales realized there wasn’t the presence of community for her to easily fall into. Instead of feeling defeated, she took action.
“I thought, maybe we can grow that, we can build a family here,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales is the second instructor training and certifying members locally at Al Dhafra in master resiliency courses. She took her experience from homestation and developed a curriculum to be taught here. When she leaves next month, she will have trained and certified 35 students.
Deployed here from the 56th Medical Group, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, Gonzales says she’s gone from “sunny skies to sunny skies,” in reference to the weather in Arizona and Abu Dhabi. She has served 15 years in the Air Force and has a 13-year old son at home, with whom she speaks every day.
“He my big baby boy and he and I have never been separated, so it’s been a challenge,” Gonzales said.
As a mother and a servicemember deployed overseas, Gonzales says the best advice she can give to other deployed members is to give yourself grace. And as the only daughter in a family of military brothers, Gonzales says to always challenge the norm.
“Take a seat at the table and show people what you got at every opportunity,” Gonzales said. “It’s been a good ride, my advice is to stay on, don’t get off and despite any low or any high, just stick with it.”
| Date Taken: | 03.17.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 04.05.2022 05:11 |
| Story ID: | 416892 |
| Location: | AL DHAFRA AIR BASE, AE |
| Web Views: | 61 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Public Health NCOIC spreads sunshine, trains Airmen to be resilient, by MSgt Chelsea FitzPatrick, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
