Maj Deidre Jean Wright, USAF Ret. Oral History Clip 1

title:

Maj Deidre Jean Wright, USAF Ret. Oral History Clip 1

creator:

Wright, Deidre Jean (1950 May 9 - )

subject:

Air Force

description:

Clip 1 of 4. Deidre Jean Wright was born on May 9, 1950 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her father had a lab that she helped run after graduating from North Caroline High School, doing some of both the chemistry and record-keeping and billing work. While working there, she was also working towards an associate’s degree from Chesapeake College and a bachelor’s degree from Hood College, considering a career in the Air Force the whole time. She wanted to go in right away, so she enlisted in 1977 despite having a four-year degree that would have allowed her to go to Officer Candidate School. She went to basic training at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. After two years as an enlisted airman, she decided to apply to and attend Officer’s Training, where she also went through tech school for maintenance. Her first assignment as an officer was at Royal Air Force Bentwaters in England, working as the officer in charge for an aircraft maintenance unit working with A-10s. From there, some of her overseas service included time in Germany, Okinawa and Yokota, Japan; Iceland, Spain, Korea; and she also served at stations around the United States. During Operation Desert Storm, she was stationed at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in California as a part of the Milstar Program. If Operation Desert Storm had gone on longer, she was somewhat likely to get called to overseas duty since she was qualified on four of the five primary aircrafts being used, and she had experience in many of the command posts. Later, she went on a 90-day deployment to Saudi Arabia, and happened to be there for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Because of this, she and another officer worked together to plan Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for the base. She also had a 90-day deployment to Kuwait, which was her most frightening deployment since they couldn’t tell whether tensions would escalate to point of conflict breaking out. She spent twenty years in the Air Force, retiring in February 1998, and she would recommend anyone considering joining the service to do so. When she retired Wright had reached the rank of Major, and for her service she was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal with 3 bronze oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with 1 bronze oak leaf cluster, Air Force Achievement Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with 1 silver oak leaf cluster, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal with 1 bronze Service Star, Overseas Service Ribbon (Long Tour), Overseas Service Ribbon (Short Tour), Air Force Longevity Service Award with 4 bronze oak leaf clusters, and Air Force Training Ribbon with 1 bronze oak leaf cluster. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Kent, Judith

date:

1999-06-16

type:

Audio

format:

CD

identifier:

1017; 2003.1017

source:

VHP | Friends of Flagler County Library | CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

068817

coverage:

Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm—1990-1991 | Operation Southern Watch (Iraq)—1992- | VW | 1978-98

rights:

Unrestricted