- Roger 4807 approaching runway 7 bravo. - The Air Force has announced the creation of a new Information operations technical training school. - So in our business in national security, where our job is to fly, fight and win. We better be masters at this game of innovation. - Air Force basic military training has an updated curriculum, with a new focus on readiness and legality. - This is the Developing Mach 21- Airmen podcast. - Hey everybody welcome in to episode number eight of Developing Mach 21- Airmen. Thanks for the subscribe, stream, or download, however you might be listening in. Have some extra time? We'd certainly appreciate some stars or even a review of the podcast. Let us know how we're doing bringing you timely and relevant info across the RTE spectrum. My name is Dan Hawkins from the Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs Office, and your host for this professional development podcast, dedicated to bringing total force, Big A Airman insight, tips, tricks and lessons learned, from the recruiting training and education field. So episode number eight and we're changing it up today, in more ways than one. First off, today we're not really focusing on necessarily a learning topic per se, but more a story of resilience from a personal angle on the development of an Airman from a human perspective, who just happens to be a military training leader and it is a simply powerful story, I think you are gonna love it 'cause you're gonna be filled with so much emotion after you listen to this great interview. And the other way that today's edition is a little bit different here on Developing Mach 21- Airmen is, we farmed out this edition of the show and asked Master Sergeant Ryan Crane, the superintendent at the 81st Training Wing Public Affairs Office at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi, to jump headfirst into the fray and he doesn't disappoint with this simply powerful story of one NCO's resilience, as she went from thinking she was gonna get out of the Air Force, to finding herself as a military training leader, ensuring our Airmen are lethal and ready to tackle any mission. The story centers around Technical Sergeant Victoria Monzon, a military training leader instructor at the 81st Training Support Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base. Sergeant Monzon was born and raised in Guatemala and due to the conflict in her home country, she fled to the United States with her family where they sought asylum and when she was old enough, Sergeant Monzon decided to join the Air Force, but because she wasn't a US citizen, her options in the Air Force initially were limited. So after a few years of being in the service Sergeant Monzon was pretty unhappy with her career path and had made up her mind to separate from the Air Force voluntarily. But fast-forward just a little bit to right before she is about to separate from the Air Force, she was submitted for the developmental special duty process and was selected to become a military training leader, which changed her plans to leave the Air Force and over the next year or so of her career Sergeant Monzon faced numerous personal and professional challenges that really tested her fortitude as an Airman. And this story is really one of resilience, hardship and overcoming adversity. In the end she's able to find that path to success despite all the low points that were along the way for her and she found herself as a better military training leader and a better Airman. Sergeant Monzon, during the interview talks to also why she loves being a military training leader and how she loves the teaching aspect of the job. She described it as filling up Airman's cups, and it's really just a powerful story throughout the interview you're gonna hear the emotion in her voice. Sergeant Crane is a wonderful interviewer and so he just really brought out the best in Sergeant Monzon. And just hearing her very real description of her struggles and how she was able to overcome them. And her passion for the Air Force, simply inspiring and her honest assessment of herself and even when she talks about the epiphany she had, about the Airmen she was leading and their view of her. It's simply just, can't miss listening, and I think you're gonna love it. So let's turn it over to Sergeant Crane and Sergeant Monzon, episode eight of Developing Mach-21 Airmen, starts right now. (upbeat music) - Hey there podcast listeners, this is Master Sergeant Ryan Crane with the 81st Training Wing Public Affairs Office. Today I have Tech Sergeant Victoria Monzon, from the 81st Training Support Squadron, and she is an MTL instructor here at Keesler. Tech Sergeant Monzon how are you doing today? - I'm doing great, thank you. - Awesome, so thanks for being here with us. Obviously, you've got a really unique set of skills and a unique experience in life. Being an MTL and specifically an MTL instructor, just talk me through how you came to be, why you joined the Air Force and how we got here today? - Well, first I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be on this channel. I joined the Air Force back in 2007, and I joined because I wanted an education. So let me take you back to how I grew up. I grew up in Guatemala and in 2000, I came to the US through political asylum. My parents, my dad left Guatemala when I was one year old, and my mom left when I was three because of the Civil War that we had going on in Guatemala at the time. So I grew up with my grandparents and in the year 2000, we finally after so many years of my dad trying to get me and my siblings to come to the US, we finally got approved to move here. I grew up very poor. Nobody in my family, people don't go to school because of lack of resources, I have a lot of cousins that don't know how to read, don't know how to write, because we just never had the opportunity to go to school. Coming to the US in 2000, I didn't speak any English, I remember going to school and people would talk to me and my answer was always no, because I didn't know what they are telling me. Eventually of course I learned English and transitioned through high school, but when I came to be a senior at high school, I still wanted an education because it's something that I hadn't seen in my family. But we were still kind of poor, we did not have resources, and the Air Force was the thing that came to be, they said, hey, well pay for your education if you just join. And I didn't have, I was a green card holder at the time. I wasn't a citizen. And the only jobs that I was qualified for without being a citizen, was services, personnel, and supply. And services was the one that kind of stuck out to me and that's where I went, I went to services. Initially it was supposed to be for six years, but then I reenlisted and now I've been in for 12 years. So back in 2014 I had my first duty station was Macguire First Base, New Jersey. I was there for the first six years of my career. In those six years I had deployed four times. I remember coming back from my fourth deployment in 2013, December of 2013, I came back and I was just unhappy with the job. There was nothing, I felt like I was just a number in the Air Force. I felt like I was just going through the day with, what's the point? I just had too much, I was under a lot of stress. And at that the time is when the Air Force decided that they were downsizing. So they were letting anybody that was coming in, applying for voluntary separation, they were giving them the opportunity to get out. And they also said, by the way we'll give you some money for you to get out. I had three years left on my contract and I said You know what? I want to do it. I want to get out because I don't like this anymore. And I remember meeting with my commander, and he's a great commander, he tried to persuade me to stay in the military, he said, "I will assign you to another section, "if it's maybe you're not happy with the job "that you're doing right now." And I said, "Sir, the best thing that you can do for me, "is just sign my voluntary separation, and let me out." And he said, "Okay well, since I can't persuade you, "then I'll just go ahead and forward "your paperwork to the wing." And it was, I think it was like a Tuesday, a Thursday excuse me, and I went back to work happy because I already knew this is it, I'm out. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The following week I come into work and I opened my email, and there was an email that said, congratulations you have been selected to be an MTL. - Wow. A complete change of pace. - Absolutely. From what you thought. - Yes. And that light that I saw at the end of the tunnel, completely disappeared and all the plans that I had, it was out the window. And because of that one change, here I am now. I've gone through a lot because of that decision that someone made for me. I didn't know that I was being nominated for DSD, nobody asked me if it's something that I wanted to do. But at the end of the day, it was one of those things that, I did sign a contract and I can't back out. I can't get out of it. - How did you feel when you found out that all these plans that you were making were completely gone? - To me it was the end of the world at the time. I already said that I felt like I was a number in the Air Force at the time, and that even made it, it solidified it more for me. That feeling of, nobody really cares about what I want to do. We're just worried about filling up a space, and it was disheartening. - And did you know anything about what an MTL was other than just going through Tech School or did you have any idea what you are about to get into? - Not at all. But I remember talking to some people about it, and when they described what an MTL does my first thought was, I'm 4 foot 11. I'm also a very timid female at the time, I had no self-confidence, I was very shy, so I'm looking at myself, how can I possibly go stand in front of Airmen? And at this point, I knew that I was going to go lead a tech school where it was predominantly males missile and space training. I just had no confidence, I didn't know how I was going to lead a whole lot of male Airmen, as a 4 foot 11 female that came from a third world country. So to me it was, I kept telling myself I can't do this, I'm going to fail at this. - So a lot of uncertainty leading up to the point but then like you said, you know you have a contract, you have a responsibility to fill, and you followed through with that and you showed up to school, to learn how to be an MTL and how did that process go? (laughs) How did you approach that? - Man I'll tell you, before I left to go to MTL school. I went home to visit my family, because I grew up in Massachusetts. I was very close to where I could go see my family, almost every weekend, and I went to visit them, And while I was there, I decided that I was going to dye my hair red. (laughs) And when I tell you it's a red like, I can show you pictures. - Like fire truck red. - Oh my God, it was. - I can picture it in my head, (laughing) I'm pretty sure I've seen that red on an Airman before, and I was like, what are you thinking? - But imagine this is an Airman, so imagine you being an instructor for MTL's, and you have an NCO that shows up to your course with red hair. - I'm sure that they were like, what do we have here? - And not only that but I showed up, I naturally, I guess I tend to have this really straight face, there's no emotion on my face. So I show up and I'm not happy to be there and talking to my instructor later on, she said that she thought I was going to be the problem student, and that she was going to have a hard time with me. I mean naturally it's understandable I showed up with red hair. - Yeah. - And at the time it was two weeks, and it was in Texas. And it was a lot of, you're here to be an MTL and we're going to teach you drill, And it was, really our course wasn't intended to prepare you on how to lead people. It was more so, these are the, the boxes that you have to check, but we're not teaching you how to develop those abilities of interpersonal relationships. So it was tough. They told me with my red hair, they told me that if I didn't change the color, that I wasn't going to be allowed to graduate. And of course we're talking four years now, left in the Air Force, so I have to make something out of it. I remember driving through San Antonio, trying to find a place that would dye my hair overnight and it was tough. - Last minute hair appointment, you need to go home and take care of that. - Absolutely. (laughing) - You better not show up with it tomorrow. - Yes. (sniffs) - Absolutely. So, talk to me about this two week course, obviously you're still sitting here today we're talking about this amazing story that you have. Did you start to feel the change and buy back into this program in those two weeks, or was that a foundation or were you just against it the whole time? - Not at all. Now, you know I grew up with, my grandparents taught me tremendous work ethic, so whether I like something or not, I am still going to do what I'm required to do. I might not go 100 percent, but I will make sure that, whatever has my name on it, that its a good representation. (sniffs) So even though I wasn't happy I was still just going through with the motions on the inside I was dying on the inside but on the outside it was like, you know what? Let's just go through this. But, two weeks was not enough, for me to buy in to being an MTL. It took me a year to finally buy into being - Wow. An MTL, so I showed up after my two weeks of tech training. I showed up to Vandenberg, in California, which was something that I was also very unhappy about. So when I received my notification of becoming an MTL, at the time they told me that I could do a BOP essentially. That I could list the bases I wanted to go to and they were going to assign me to whatever base I chose. And all the bases that I chose were in Texas. Then when I received my assignment notification they said, you're going to California, across the country where I have no family, I have, I know nobody. So I showed up to Vandenberg and I was still upset that I was there. But, Vandenberg is beautiful. Such a beautiful place. And showing up, I was working with three other males, I was the only female and I started working the night shift, Which was, I would come in from 1 pm and work till 10. And that is probably one of the worst shifts that you could ever work. You get no interaction with real people, not that Airmen aren't real people but, I can't socialize with the Airmen. So everybody would, we would have, our shifts were stacked to the point that we had maybe, two or three hours overlap where I could work with other MTL's but then when they were gone, it was just me. And I worked that shift for a long time and coming up in 2015 for the holiday break, I went back home to Guatemala, and I hadn't been there since 2006. My grandfather who raised me, he was on his deathbed and when I saw him, he was literally just, he couldn't do anything for himself. He had to be fed, he had to, he couldn't speak anymore, it was like having a child again. And in those two weeks I tried to spend as much time as I possibly could with him. And coming back, January 3rd, I left to come back, to go back to work. About two hours after I got home I got a phone call that he passed away. (sniffs) So at this point, you know I'm telling you, I had no social support. I hadn't had time to make friends at Vandenberg. And the most influential person in my life had just passed away. And I was coming back to, a job that I was still, I wouldn't say unhappy, but it was just a job. Later on that month, I had my PT test which was also the same time that my EPR was closing out. (sniffs) Throughout my career, I consider myself to be of pretty good shape. (sniffs) And if you look at my records you'll see, all my scores have been excellent. So I wasn't worried, I was still dealing with grieving, with my grandfathers death and not having a close social support at my base. But I figured, oh it's just a PT test nothing new. So I go in, and I failed. And I didn't know how to deal with it because I had never failed before. (sniffs) So, as soon as I'm done taking the test I go back to, to my job to let my flight chief know that, I had just finished, I failed, I'm going home to change and I'll be back. And I think it took me maybe an hour or two to come back and when I came back, that was the main priority was, you failed your PT test. And I failed because of sit-ups, I think I was short five sit-ups. They focused a lot on, well even though you've gotten excellent before, lets look at you've gotten close to failing your sit-ups before. You've been really close all these years, so what have you done? And in my mind I'm thinking, But does it matter? I've gotten excellent. But I didn't feel like anybody really took the time to find out what was going on in my life. And I did make it known, I did let people know, hey, this is what's going on in my life my grandfather passed away, I'm dealing with personal issues aside from that, and I don't have any friends. I felt like the main focus was, that PT test. So because my EPR was closing out the same month, that led to a referral EPR. And also talks about, they told me that they were potentially going to remove my rope because I couldn't stand up there leading Airmen when I couldn't pass a PT test. And that was tough. Eventually after that, because of what had happened I got moved to a morning shift I was finally taken off of night shift. (sniffs) But I still had that referral EPR and I was still going to school, which was the main reason why I joined the Air Force. So now, not only, I couldn't test for tech, which I had been preparing for, I couldn't go to school anymore because I had to wait a whole year for that referral EPR to rall off my records. (sniffs) I didn't feel good with myself, holding my Airmen accountable for something when I was going through this failure. Looking back at it, that's when I finally bought in to being an MTL. That's when I finally understood, (sniffs) how important our job is. And the huge responsibility that we have. And it's not just about showing up to do a job, it's not just about telling an Airman hey don't do this, don't do that, but it's about taking care of people. And I've had some good leaders in my life, some people that I look up to but I've also had people that, I can't say that they took good care of me, and that's been my motivation. I tell myself, one day, can't remember when it happened, I just know it happened after my failure but, I had this epiphany, I have the opportunity, that one of my Airmen could one day be the next Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force. And how do I want them to remember me, when they become the next Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force? And that's really when it all changed for me. - It's amazing how, It's an amazing story but it's amazing how just looking back I think everyone knows an Airman, even they may be that Airman who has that story of, I was just getting hit over and over and over and I was done. And then there was just that moment when it all just clicked when you realize that, you weren't treated the way that you want to be treated and you're not gonna let that happen to anyone else and I feel like, as bad as everything was for you that's an amazing story to come out of the bottom, come out of the depth of where you were and just realize and see, how you can take that and turn it into a positive for everyone else that you interact with from that day forward. - Absolutely. And you know, I can't say that I'm a perfect leader, I'm by no means anywhere close to being perfect. And that's really what I ask myself everyday is how am I treating people, am I really living up to that image that I have in my head? And I've made mistakes. Looking back at being a Line MTL and being responsible for Airmen. Some decisions that I took that had to do with them, weren't the best, but that's really how you learn. You're not always going to make the best decisions, but it's how you learn from those decisions that you made, how you learn from your mistakes. And that's really what I try to do with my life everyday. - And I think that everything that you're describing here, while it's very, very relevant as an MTL, as a leader of those young Airmen it's also relevant to every single person in the Air Force. This is being a supervisor, this is taking care of people. These are lessons in values that you hope that everyone in the Air Force holds. And the fact that you get to be on the front lines and be one of the first faces that Airmen see with those values, and train the future MTL's that will then be the front lines, that's an amazing feeling I have to imagine. - It is, it truly is because, you know when an Airman goes through basic training, I used to be the kinda person that thought, oh, you got taught everything in basic training, you should know how to wear the uniform. You should know about, AA5-36-29-03, everybody should know about that. But let's be honest, how many people really do remember everything that happened in basic training, it was all a blur because you're under so much stress. Our Airman are that, is nobody knows everything, and we can't just assume that everybody knows everything. And sometimes questions may sound dumb and it may, something may seem like, oh it's common sense, you should know this? But common sense isn't common. And sometimes we just need that patience to, stop and teach someone, oh, so you've never heard about 36-29-03? Well let me tell you about it, and this is what you can find in it, and matter of fact, download it to your phone. And just taking the time, Just taking small time out of your day to dedicate it to people. - Yeah absolutely and I think that's like you said, that should just be core for every NCO senior, NCO Airman in the Air Force. It's just making sure that we're taking care of each other. Not everyone knows what you know, share that knowledge and make sure that people are taken care of. Don't look at people like you said, as a number, don't approach the situation as black and white. A PT failure, or a behavioral issue, there's always something, if you peel back those onion layers, something else going on. And I think that's a great story to think about the Airmen and think about the person first before you even think about the behavior. Because there's always something behind that. I think you're a great example of that, a great reminder for everyone of that. - Absolutely. And our career field manager, Chief Master Sergeant Marshall, one of her things that, she briefs the new MTL's when they come through the school is, one thing that I ask you to do is, ask your Airmen, help me understand. And she stands by that and it's something, that I tell myself everyday like, why did someone get to that point, why did you make that decision? Sometimes you just, we just wanna go and correct the behavior but that is like putting a band-aid on something you're just covering it up. but when you take the time, I've had, I remember some of my Airmen, when I used to talk to them. And so why did you do this? Oh because, I just wasn't thinking. Well, why weren't you thinking? And those questions get uncomfortable for anybody. When you continue to ask the why, but that's how you get to the bottom of something, you're just continuing make someone uncomfortable to the point that they really have to think about why they made a decision that they made. - Absolutely. So, you know shifting gears a little bit. let's talk about being an MTL, talk about your role in the DSD program, your experience with the DSD program. I know for me personally, when they rolled out the new DSD program and how it would work my reservations were probably very similar just because, someone may think that I'm a good fit for a job or be a good fit for something. While I appreciate their confidence in me, maybe I don't have the personality for it. But I think that we're kind of getting to a point now, where, senior leaders are doing a really good job of having those conversations with their Airmen before being submitted. And making sure that this is something that they want to do because I firmly believe that, I'm going to do a better job at something If I'm bought into it and if it's something that I want to do. While also looking at performance and things like that. So can you talk to me about, just the DSD program in general for you, the type of people you see coming in are they people who definitely want to be MTL's, is it a little bit of a mix? - From when if first rolled out, I was in the first cycle of DSD back in 2014 and from there to this point, we made a tremendous change for the positive. To where leaders are definitely taking the opportunity now to talk to their NCO's and asking their input on what they really want to do. When it first rolled out, they were just throwing people in there but now, for the most part, when our students come through and we ask them, how many of you wanted to be here, about 90 percent of our students, want to be here, that's something that they wanted to do. But we still occasionally get the people that, no this wasn't my choice, I don't know why I'm here. (sniffs) So with that, I have seen some great NCO's that I know are going to make, are going to be tremendous MTL's but I've also seen NCO's that, they're just not in to it, they just don't want to do it and no matter how much we try to motivate them and paint this picture of how great of a job it is and the huge responsibility that we have they're just close-minded. And that's really, I think it's the key is, how open-minded are you? Now, I am thankful that someone made a decision for me to come and do this, because had I been given the opportunity or had someone asked me, do you want to be an MTL? I would have said no because, I had no confidence in myself and I didn't want to step outside of my comfort zone. So it took someone to literally push me out for me to finally find myself. So I don't know where I stand, I have mixed feelings, I think some people just need that push. Because, someone sees in you, we are very, critical of ourselves. We're our worst critic but other people see us in a different light. And other people see something in us that we just absolutely don't see in us. And I think that sometimes, it's good that those people push us outside of our comfort zone. - I agree. I've had a very similar experience, I went to an assignment kind of kicking and screaming and maybe like you maybe had a not great attitude about it for the first five or six months, and then, it's like you said, I had like that aha moment, something clicked and I was like, Oh, I get it now. - Mm hm - This is how I fit into this, and this is what I can do, and this is why this is important? And it is, it's kind of, looking back I feel so young and immature that I was so upset abut this thing. Because now I can look back and say, that was a defining moment in my career, that can definitely put me on a career path that I'm on now. And I wouldn't have anything that I have now had someone not made a decision for me. So, I get it you know, its a double edged sword between trusting your leaders, to see what they see in you. But then you know also just making sure that people are also just a little bit comfortable with where they're going. - I agree. - Yeah, I agree. In the end I think that if a senior leader sees something in you, then yeah let's explore that. I've definitely adopted that approach, I may be like nah, I don't think that's for me man, but I'll try it. It's definitely, that experience definitely has changed my opinion on it. - Mm hmm. And you know I think, it really takes me back to and really getting to know their strengths and where they're going to fit well into the mission. because if you haven't taken the time to even learn my name, or learn where I came from? Its hard for me to really trust your opinion as a leader, and it's really hard for me to say, you know what, my leader really thinks I can do this, if we don't have that connection. - I agree. And kind of talking about that connection and talking about those things. If you could connect with those people in our audience and those people who are hopefully, maybe they find this podcast or they find an information article about MTL's. What would you like to pass along to them, how would you like to connect with them and really sell this job, sell this assignment to them, if you were a car salesman and you had to sell MTL's to a group of people who had no idea what they were doing, how would you get me to want to be an MTL? - This absolutely the best job in the Air Force. I've had a lot of jobs in the Air Force. But why is this job so important? Well, this is really the place where you build your legacy. Think about, you remember your MTI. Who doesn't remember their MTI? Certain occasions people remember their MTLs, and whether it's for good or bad things they'd remember those people. And when you do something good for someone, it makes you feel better about yourself, so being an MTL is really building your legacy and filling somebody else's cup. And that cup is our Airman's cup. And all of us have a cup. And when you take time to walk an Airman through, prime example, I had an Airman that showed up to my tech school who didn't know how to use a debit card. And I was just baffled at the fact that debit cards have been around for a while, how do you not know how to use a debit card? But taking the time to teach him. This is how you use a debit card, and this is what it's good for and teaching Airmen, just general life skills. I also had an Airman who had a really hard time making friendships. And I actually was just thinking about her this morning. She was already serviced, and she was getting ready to graduate tech school and I noticed that she was a little off, so I talked to her one day and I was sayin', "Hey what's going on? "You don't seem like yourself "And you're getting ready to graduate, "Is there anything I can help you with?" And we just started talking and peeling back that onion. And this Airman was about to go home in three weeks and she did not have a place to stay because her parents had kicked her out of the house. And told her, you are an adult now, you have joined the Air Force. when you come back you have to figure it out on your own. And you know, an active duty Airman, you're going to operational Air Force, you're getting a dorm room, you have a place to stay. And this Airman didn't and I asked her, "Well is there any family, friends, "Anybody you can stay with?" And she tells me, "No, actually no one." "Well, do you have any friends here?" And she had been in Tech School for about four months now, and she tells me that she doesn't have any friends and I felt like I was seeing myself in her. So we started talking and coming up with different plans on things that she could do, and I reached out to her home unit to try to figure out a plan for this Airman. And in the meantime while she was in tech school, I gave her, it seemed like a silly assignment but I told her, everyday, until you graduate, I want you to go up to one of your wing men here and ask them a question about themselves. Ask them where they came from, ask them about family, or get to know them. And at the end of the day I want you to come to my office and I want you to tell me about that Airman. She really made it her mission and she had a notebook that she would carry with her and everyday she'd start it off as, this is just an assignment. She would go up to an Airman and ask them about their personal life. And in those three weeks, this Airman became the popular Airman in the dorms And for me, I got to know more about my Airman. And when you do little things like that it's so rewarding, it's really the intangibles. When you see an Airman come from BMT and some of them might be scared, they don't know how to be adults, then you finally see them graduate and go be Airmen. And it's just very rewarding, but also, I've ran into Airmen that were some of my former Airman, who are now NCO's, who are now supervising other Airmen. And I'm just slowly waiting for the day that one of them comes through the MTL course. And I hope that doesn't happen because I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. But just that with some of the Airman that have reached out to me to tell me this is what's going on in my life. That just makes a world of difference. The thank you cards that you get, thank you emails that you get. I had an Airman who told me, he asked me if we had a picture together, and I was like, no we don't have a picture together. We were not allowed to take pictures together you were my Airman at the time. He had separated from the Air Force for medical reasons. So he was saying, "Well I'm finally graduating from this course, "This civilian course and they have asked me "To highlight someone that has had "The biggest impact in my life." So it's like, I don't have a picture with you but I have a picture where, I took a picture with one of the Airman when they graduated and he was in the background. So I sent him the picture and I said, this is the only picture I have while you were in tech school. So he cropped himself out on to the Airman I had taken the picture with and at his graduation they had to put a slide show of that person, and he put me on there. That I was a person that saw something in him. That I pushed him to find his purpose. And it's those things that really make the job worthy. Just like any job in the Air Force, there are things that, it can be very stressful of you constantly pouring yourself out to your Airmen and giving and giving and giving, but the end result is just truly amazing. To know that, you're training the future leaders of the Air Force, you're building that foundation. And one of the things that I tell my MTL students now is, look at the people you worked with before you came to this course. Look at the Airmen that you worked with. If you didn't like what you saw, this is your opportunity to change the Air Force, because you're building that foundation. So how do you want the Air Force, do you want the Air Force to be successful? Then teach you're Airman to be successful. You have that power, and it's such a humbling opportunity, that you have a hand in, building the future of the Air Force. I mean, what other job is going to allow you to do that? And it's just getting to know people. Just being able to help people. - Thanks Tech Sergeant Monzon. An amazing story, an amazing ride, an amazing experience. The Air Force Keesler, you're United States, is absolutely just thrilled to have you and it's amazing that you're here and thank you so much for being on here to tell your story. - Thank you very much for the opportunity, to be able to share my story and you know going back from, I hate the Air Force I don't want to be here anymore. I bought into the Air Force and my goal really is to be influential, not just with Airmen but just with people I come in contact with. So any time I have an opportunity to share my story I truly take advantage of it. So I truly appreciate you giving me this forum to be able to share that story. (upbeat electric music) - Wow. This interview has just left me completely without words, but in a good way. it's so inspiring to hear Sergeant Monzon's Air Force story and learn how she pushed through seemingly insurmountable odds to become a better version of herself. We definitely wanna say thank you to Sergeant Monzon for telling her story and to Master Sergeant Crane for his work on the podcast. As a reminder you can follow Air Education and Training Command via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as on the Web at www.aetc.af.mil. Thanks for checking out the podcast as we dive into the world of recruiting, training and education. For our entire AETC public affairs staff, I'm Dan Hawkins, So long, we'll talk to you next time on Developing Mach-21 Airmen.