Honoring Our Veterans - Gabriela Locke

We celebrated Veterans Day not too long ago. The remembrance of our proud U.S. veterans who sacrificed tremendously for our country is beyond important. Let's take Air Force veteran Sean Locke, for example. In 1983, at 15 years of age, Sean Locke enlisted in the Air Force. What kind of sacrifice he had to make. Sean went on to serve nine years in the military. He was inspired by his father, Michael Locke, who was drafted in the service to be in the Korean War. However, Sean had additional motives to enlist. Sean stated, “I felt the need to serve. Knowing how great this country is, I wanted to give back a little.” Sean also wanted to be in the military to acquire an education and to travel. Sean’s permanent stations were Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas (18 months); RAF Fairford Air Force Base in England (4 years); and Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas, Nevada (2.5 years).

Sean was a fuel specialist in the Air Force. Specifically, he worked with storage, distribution, testing, and accounting for fuel. He also worked in planning fuel distribution to aircrafts. When Sean was working in the accounting office for fuels at his England base, when they would have war games going on, he accounted for when the aircraft flew in, how much fuel it needed, and that the aircraft had enough to get back in the air.

Sean served during the first Gulf War. The War of Desert Shield and Desert Storm in August 1990. In this war, Iraq invaded Kuwait, taking over its oil field causing disruption through the global market. This was because they thought Saddam Hussein would expand his conquest to Iraq to Kuwait to Iran then to Saudi Arabia. This affected the U.S. because there was a big U.S. presence in Saudi Arabia. To protect the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, the U.S.deployed service members to be stationed in Saudi Arabia. They did this to push Arabians back to their own country. The deployment took place in waves: the first wave of people (3 or 4 people) were single people, not married with any children. The second wave, married and with no children. Then the third wave, married with children. Sean belonged to the third wave. However, the U.S. forces were very strong compared to the Iranian forces and they were able to clear out any hotspots of Iranians. Threats were cleared within about 3 weeks. During this time period, though, activity in the Air Force began to pick up. Sean says that, on the first Monday of August in 1990, he started working 12 hours shifts a day. He was in Las Vegas, working to support the planes and pilots as more and more planes came in needing fuel. They had three to four aircrafts come in a day in need of fuel. This stress really worried Sean's family and they wondered whether he would be deployed or not.

In 1992, Sean left the service. After the Gulf War and the Cold War ended, the U.S. services did a reduction in force (rif). They reduced 80% of the fuels field Sean was in. They offered a financial package to leave the service and Sean decided it was time to go. His family of four was very young at the time and he wanted to be able to financially support his family as much as he could. When Sean got home, he found civilian life different. Entering the business world and going into finance working at an equity firm, he noticed the difference for it being in the army there was more of a common goal. Sean worked with 50 to 100 people in the service all having various jobs for fuels like driving trucks, working pump houses, and accounting and planning for fuels like he did. However, they were all there to do their work and to provide for the U.S. In the business world, there was more freedom when approaching a certain topic. They still had that in the army but Sean stated, “When the commander tells you to do something, you do it.” It was also hard leaving the group of people he had worked for years and the bond of being the only Americans in a foreign country.

Sean says he still contacts his fellow service members through the Media app, and occasionally meets in person. When Sean lived in Brookline, Massachusetts, he was a member of one of the Veterans organizations, The American Legion. While Sean was a member, he also became an officer in the Brookline Post for three years. He looks to become a member again of the American Legion near his new home within the next year.

Overall, Sean's experience in the Air Force was unforgettable. Sean stated, “In a heartbeat,” that he would do it all again. It doesn't have to just be Veterans Day when you acknowledge veterans. It should be every day we pay homage to our fellow Americans who have sacrificed so much for our freedom. Thank you, Veterans.