SrA Angela Hawks-Jonhson USAF Oral History

title:

SrA Angela Hawks-Jonhson USAF Oral History

creator:

Hawks-Johnson, Angela R. (1974 August 23 -

subject:

Air Force

description:

Angela Hawks-Johnson was born on August 23, 1974 in Atlantic, Iowa. She served in the Gulf War as a part of the Air Force. Her dad, grandfather, several uncles, and brother all served in the military, and her three children were, at the time of the interview, all at different stages of serving between ROTC and having just finished service. She decided to join the Air Force after she visited and Air Force Base with her family her junior year of high school, joining in 1992 when she was still 17. She had basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas and was sent to Biloxi, Mississippi for technical school. She then served at NORAD at the Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado as part of the 721st Space Command CSS Maintenance for the remainder of her duty. Her team did the maintenance for missile warning, master timing, space surveillance, and GPS systems. She was the only woman in that specialty, so she definitely felt a lot more pressure in tech school, and she even got called a yankee by a man from Georgia, but she thinks all that pushed her to do even better on tests and everything else. During the Gulf War, she served remotely from NORAD working on tools that monitored nuclear bombs around the world to make sure none were being aimed or fired, as well as tools that tracked the locations of space debris to ensure nothing catastrophic happened. While she served, she was also a bugler and played as a volunteer for active duty funerals. There were no other women around at NORAD until her third year there, and they still talk regularly. As part of the honor guard, she was the bugler for 60 or so ceremonies over four years at NORAD. She has continued playing since leaving the service, playing at veterans' funerals upon request by their families so there can be a live player rather than a tape or mechanical trumpet. She left the service in 1996 to make sure that she could take care of her young son. Angela achieved the rank of E4, and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, Outstanding Unit Award, Meritorious Unit Award, and National Defense Service Ribbon. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Water, Jay

date:

2021-11-07

type:

Moving Image

format:

Born Digital

identifier:

1344; 2021.009

source:

Voices of Freedom Project

language:

English

relation:

NR

coverage:

Persian Gulf War | 1992-1996

rights:

Unrestricted