A Salute to Female Veterans

Military service is a tradition in this family. I am fourth generation military on my father’s side of the family. This begins with my great-grandfather’s service in the Italian Army before immigrating and serving in the U.S. Army during WWI. I am third generation Air Force on my mother’s side of the family. My grandfather flew B-24 bombers during WWII and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for valor. My mother and father both served 20 years in US Air Force intelligence.

Not many women veterans can say, “My mother served too.”

The 1970s was a revolutionary time for military women. In 1973, women serving in the Air Force were referred to as a WAF (Women in the Air Force) to distinguish their limited roles in the Air Force from the men. They were assigned ground duties, mainly in clerical and medical occupations and were non-deployable.

Originally from Alexander City, Alabama, my mother, Lynn (Fuller) Bianchi was among the first WAFs admitted to linguist training at the Defense Language Institute/West Coast branch in Monterey, California  where she trained to become a Russian Cryptologic Linguist. She met my father, Robert Bianchi, a Morse code operator, while stationed with the 6950th Electronic Security Group at RAF Chicksands in England. At RAF Chicksands, in addition to her linguist duties, she was instrumental in the conversion of training and evaluation materials to digital format when computers were introduced. My parents married in 1975, moved duty stations to Misawa AB, Japan, and later returned to RAF Chicksands. Significant changes in policies and legislation soon led to the WAFs full integration into the Air Force in 1976. Many women experienced discrimination and harassment, but this change would eventually bring them closer to receiving more opportunity, responsibility, and equality.

At her final duty station at Headquarters at Kelly AFB, San Antonio, TX, My mother identified the need for intel operators to maintain their proficiencies while stateside and helped develop a dedicated, secure facility where they could practice classified activities at headquarters. After 20 years of military service, Lynn enrolled at Auburn University and earned a Master’s Degree in Education. She taught school for 14 years and then retired in 2014 to be caregiver to my daughter, Arwyn.

 As a young girl, I frequently dressed up using my parents uniform items and intuitively knew they were doing something important. My parents never placed the expectation to serve in the military on me or my brother. I think they assumed I would go to college after high school, so they were surprised when I announced that I had decided to join the military too. In 2003, the United States bombed Iraq. Later that year, I joined the Air Force and left for basic military training (BMT) at Lackland AFB,Texas. At BMT graduation, my mother noticed a WAF exhibit in one of the auditoriums. She pulled me over to a photograph of an all women flight and proudly pointed out her face right in front. It was an extraordinary moment for me. My mother is a part of history. History that is vital to notions of women’s rights and equality.

During six years of service, I served at McConnell AFB, Kansas and deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. While deployed, I received orders to the Defense Intelligence Agency in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I served until July 2009 and enrolled at Auburn University to pursue my undergraduate degree in History.

Experiencing college life as a working professional is a non-traditional experience that brings its own unique challenges. I was no longer a part of the greatest military in the world. Ultimately, I felt like I had lost my identity. I found solace in connecting with other student veterans, faculty, and staff that cared about student veteran academic success. During my time as a student, I worked as a VA work-study, became one of the first members of the AU Student Veterans Association (ASVA), and was the first woman to be elected to an officer position in the ASVA.  Our efforts were rewarded with the opening of a Veterans Resource Center on Veteran’s Day, 2012. I feel so blessed to be a part of veteran success history at AU.

In 2016, I enrolled in the Adult Education graduate program. The program allowed me to research student veterans, their cognitive learning styles, stress, and coping strategies. In May 2019, I graduated with my Master’s Degree in Education. This month, I formed the Faculty and Staff Veterans Council. It is only fitting that I work with other Faculty and Staff veterans to not only be a resource to one another but to also serve and support student veterans in their academic journey at Auburn University. Continuing to serve my fellow veteran is truly my passion and purpose in life.

I am grateful to the women (like my mother) who paved the way and who never gave up when faced with adversity and inequality. 

– Robyn Westbrook