Photo By Glenn Robertson | Retired Air Force Maj. Arnulfo Villarreal and his daughter, Capt. Krysta Flach...... read more read more
For some families, military service is more than a duty. It's a shared legacy, binding generations together through pride and purpose. While some families serve in the same branch or even at the same installation, it is uncommon to find a father and daughter who not only share a branch but also the same career field.
For Capt. Krysta Flach Villarreal, a nuclear and missile operations officer with the 320th Missile Squadron, discovering this connection with her father, Arnulfo, was a surprise that deepened their bond.
Krysta always knew her father had served in the Air Force, but it wasn’t until she accepted a scholarship to join the service as a nuclear and missile operations officer that she realized that they had something more specific in common. When she shared the news of her scholarship, Arnulfo revealed something she hadn’t known: from 1969 to 1975, he had served as a Minuteman I missileer with the 321st Strategic Missile Squadron at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming.
“It was a huge surprise when I found out,” Krysta said. “I now understand how important it is to me to serve in my father’s footsteps and honor him this way, and it feels like fate that I accepted that 13N scholarship.”
Though the majority of his career had been as a weather operations officer, Arnulfo transitioned to the Air Force’s changing nuclear mission as a nuclear and missile operations officer following his deployment in Southeast Asia from 1968-1969.
Their connection grew stronger as Krysta embarked on her Air Force journey, but life soon threw her a new challenge. A few years after sharing this milestone with her father, Arnulfo was diagnosed with dementia. While old memories remain, he is unable to create new ones.
In March 2024, Krysta brought her father into her care, a decision made possible with the support of her command leadership.
“My leadership has always been supportive,” Krysta said. “They have made it possible for me to continue my Air Force career while taking care of my dad.
Caring for a loved one with dementia comes with its own set of challenges, but Krysta takes it on with a sense of pride and purpose.
“For me, it’s a pleasure to accept this opportunity to take care of him,” she said. ““He cared for me so completely, and now I get to return that to him.”
To help her father reconnect with his past, Krysta arranged a special visit to the L-01 Missile Alert Facility near Kimball, Nebraska, on Oct. 30, 2024. Together, they descended into the same Launch Control Center where Arnulfo had once stood watch during the Cold War.
“It looks different from when I was down here,” Arnulfo said when he took in the updated facility.
During the visit, father and daughter spoke with the missile combat crew on duty and prodded memories long past.
Born in Parás, Nuevo León, Mexico, Arnulfo grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He joined the Air Force in 1960 as a weather officer, and he and two of his brothers went on to serve in the Vietnam War. He left the 321 SMS in 1975 to return to weather operations, a career that he remained in until he retired from the Air Force in 1982.
Now, decades later, his daughter continues the legacy, standing watch as a sentinel of nuclear deterrence.
“It’s incredible to think that my father and I, though generations apart, shared this mission,” Krysta said. “The experience is truly special.”
Though their paths in service are separated by time, the bond between this father and daughter stands as an unshakable testament to a family’s legacy of military service and the shared sacrifices of those who serve.
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.25.2024 18:43 |
| Story ID: | 486136 |
| Location: | F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Legacy of service: Father and daughter strengthen bond through shared careers, by Glenn Robertson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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