Darcy L. Standish, USAF Oral History

title:

Darcy L. Standish, USAF Oral History

creator:

Standish, Darcy Lynn (1964 December 27 - )

subject:

Air Force

description:

Darcy L. Standish was born on December 27, 1961 in Buffalo, New York. She enlisted in the Air Force in October 1979, partially because both of her parents had served in the Air Force and met each other while serving. She initially tried to join the Navy, but at only 5’ ½” she was too short. After going to basic training, she was on direct duty rather than being assigned to a technical school, and she ended up at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia in Operations Resource Management with the air crew. She was at this station for four years, working in three different jobs under the Air Crew Operations Resource Management umbrella, and volunteered for an assignment in Korea. After a year overseas, she returned to the United States and was stationed at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. After three years there, she was initially assigned to the Netherlands, but her mother became ill, so she instead went to Griffith Air Force Base in New York for four years to be near her. Within that four year span she spent seven months in in the Persian Gulf as part of Desert Shield/Desert Storm. She returned to the states for a few months, then requested and got another year in Korea, returning to the United States and serving in Hulburt Field, Florida for 8 years. In DS/DS, she was responsible for tracking and sending reports on all the air crew data, like how much fuel was off-loaded and to what types of planes, for tankers they had out there at the time. When it was just Desert Shield her schedule was quite manageable, but when the war formally broke out she was working around the clock since there were flights to track around the clock and she didn’t have many other people who could help. When Army women arrived in Oman, they went from around 30 women to 300, and the military did not properly prepare facilities for this development, taking a little while to build enough tents for the women to shower and go to the bathroom in. When she returned to the United States there were other women on the same plane, but they went to unload bags right away so she ended up being the only woman talking to the press upon landing at the base. After being stationed in Florida for 8 years upon returning to the United States, she was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington, DC, which is where she was stationed at the time of the interview. Standish retired from the Air Force in June 2009 having reached the rank of chief master sergeant, and for her service she was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Air Force Overseas Short Tour Ribbon with 1 oak leaf cluster, Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with 2 oak leaf clusters, NCO Professional Military Education Graduate Ribbon with 1 PLC, Basic Military Training Honor Graduate Ribbon, Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, Air Force Training Robbin, and Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia). A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Howie, Megan Dawn

date:

2002-10-05

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

881; 2002.881

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

130864

coverage:

Gulf War | Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm—1990-1991 | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 1979-interview

rights:

Unrestricted