Save It For The Drive

Episode 13: Stories from a Desert Storm Era Crew Chief - Donna Falk

Donna Falk served in the Air Force from 1986-1991. She maintained the C-141 and C-5 air frames. Listen as she recounts her experience stationed in Spain at the start of the Gulf War.

Episode 12: Jackie's experience as a hemodialysis nurse in the Vietnam War

Welcome to our season finale!! This is the 12th episode. I am planning to take some time off to get some more interviews done and enjoy a little bit of the summer. Stay tuned for the next season in the fall. Jaclyn Rautbort Tropp recounts her experience as a hemodialysis nurse in Saigon, Vietnam in the 629th Medical Detachment at the 3rd Field Hospital. As a young Lieutenant, she is placed as the Officer in Charge of the Hemodialysis Unit. An area of medicine she had little to no experience beforehand. Joining the Army greatly helped her achieve her dreams of being a nurse and there is no doubt that the training she received aided her in her career after returning from the war. Jackie also recalls the advice she received from her mother, a former WW2 Army nurse, before joining the Army. This wisdom aided her through many potentially negative situations.

Episode 11: The military changed the trajectory of her life

In this episode, we will meet retired Air National Guard Major, Jennifer Bean. Jennifer recalls her experiences of enlisting as a personnelist initially to help with her school tuition. This was a decision which altered the course of her life and ultimately allowed her to complete her career as a Medical Readiness Officer. Her experiences gave her a focus to develop a career in the human resources industry eventually lead her to create an HR program for Maryville University as well as provide human resource support for Tides, a national nonprofit company which provides philanthropic support for other organizations advocating for social justice.

Episode 10: Michelle's Tech School Experience as a medic

In this week's episode, we hear part 2 of Michelle Mondia's as she talks about her experience in Air Force medic tech school at Shepard AFB, TX.

Episode 9: A deep dive into basic training stories with Michelle Mondia

The content in this podcast are the thoughts and opinions of the host and guests and are not reflective of the DOD. Michelle Mondia is a veteran of the Air National Guard from 1996-2017. Listen to the first of a series of episodes of Michelle's career with this first one detailing her basic training experience at Lackland Air Force Base.