Photo By Staff Sgt. Susan Davis | March is Women's History Month. Col. Monique Minnick, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling...... read more read more
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WASHINGTON - “Personnel is not for the faint of heart,” said Col. Monique Minnick, sitting across a small table at the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Starbucks. “Very early on, I learned to look for other peoples’ needs. Personnel changes with every person. You have to ask yourself, are you willing to get in the middle of other peoples’ messes?”
Minnick, who is the individual mobilization assistant to the Air Force Element commander and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling vice commander, is a fourth-generation, self-proclaimed "military brat," and the eldest daughter of an Air Force pilot who flew at the height of the Viet Nam War.
From the time she was very young, spirituality played a crucial role in Minnick’s life and had a great influence in shaping the kind of woman and the kind of leader she is, she said.
Her father was raised with a strong Catholic upbringing, and her mother with an equally strong Baptist upbringing. She noted how their religious differences created friction between her parents for five years until they moved to Hawaii in 1976.
“Back then, that kind of difference in religious beliefs between a married couple was difficult to get past,” she said. “At one point in 1977, my father began to focus more on a personal relationship with God, and we were baptized together on Easter Sunday in 1978.”
Minnick said she draws her leadership philosophy and style straight from the pages of the Bible.
“One of my favorite books in the Bible is Micah,” she said. “It’s a powerful book about what God requires of leaders. God holds leaders responsible for creating an environment of justice in Micah 6:8; Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God. God expects leaders to guard the poor and oppressed, those without an advocate; leaders must motivate, not manipulate; and woe to those who abuse power.”
One of the best examples of this comes from April 1993-June 1994, when she served as the 554th Red Horse squadron section commander at Osan Air Base, Korea, as one of only 10 women assigned to the unit, and the only female officer.
“While I was there, I turned Article 15s around by 300 percent, because I got in peoples’ lives,” she said. “It took me being in the area when they would go out on weekends and giving up some of my personal time, but it was worth it."
Another noteworthy assignment in her career came in June 1998 when she was assigned to the Virginia Military Institute as the assistant professor of aerospace studies. Upon Congressional mandate that women would be allowed to enter previously all-male military universities, she was assigned to the VMI to help train the first class of women.
“To me, the best thank you I can get from anyone is to see them succeed,” she said.
Minnick explained that as an officer from the ranks of O-1 to O-5, it’s not uncommon to become involved in the “nitty-gritty” when dealing with people.
“As an O-6 and above, it’s a different story,” she said. “As soon as people see the eagles on your collar, they put you on a pedestal. They think you’re too busy to deal with what they’ve got going on, and for me, that just isn’t true.”
“Some people make the assumption that women aren’t capable,” she said. “But as women, we have to be willing to step into the fray. Every day, every situation is a choice. There is a reason for every situation you’re placed in. I don’t call them coincidences, I call them ‘God-incidences.’”
Editor’s note: March is Women’s History Month. This is the second in a series of features throughout the month featuring accomplished women in the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling community.
| Date Taken: | 03.11.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 03.11.2011 08:23 |
| Story ID: | 66850 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 509 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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