Momma wears combat boots

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Lakisha Croley
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  The Air Force has declared July 2009 to July 2010 the "The Year of the Air Force Family." Amidst the fanfare, it's important to remember that some families are different from others - some families are led by superwomen: single mothers moonlighting as Airmen.

It's O-dark-hundred Monday morning and Staff Sgt. Christina Martinez, an operations management contingency instructor with Detachment 1, 554th Red Horse Civil Engineering Squadron, is already dressed in PT gear and in the midst of rousing her two small children, Mateo, age 18 months, and Lilianna, age 3 years.

After almost two years of single motherhood, Sergeant Martinez has her morning routine down to a science: wake, shower, dress, breathe; wake the kids, dress the kids (set out their clothes on the kitchen table the night before), feed the kids, breathe; herd the kids out the door and into the car, make tracks for Kadena's Child Development Center and then on to work; gulp coffee, breathe.

As with any mother, Sergeant Martinez deals with cooperative children one morning and tears the next. Life, as they say, is hard, but Sergeant Martinez takes it all in stride as best she can. Truth be told, she doesn't have much of a choice.

Fortunately, Sergeant Martinez and Staff Sgt. Amber Walker, a fellow single mother and operations management contingency instructor, said they have a good support system within their unit. There are two other single mothers in the detachment and together the four of them form a sort of co-op, pitching in to help each other whenever the need arises.

Squadron leadership, too, has been empathetic and has happily allowed the four women the flexibility they occasionally need to be Mommy during duty hours. Sergeant Walker said she's been provided a number of things, including leave when her children have been sick and babysitting assistance when she's been called into duty at night.

"As long we get our work done for the day," said Sergeant Martinez, "our leadership allows us the time to do what we need to do, whether it's taking classes for school or taking care of our children."

When duty hours end, all military moms become just Mommy again; single moms become both Mommy and Daddy. At the end of their Air Force duty day, Sergeants Martinez and Walker merely don different uniforms, exchanging one cape for another: they are two of many military mothers whose duty day doesn't end until their children are asleep and they've prepared to do the whole thing all over again come morning.

Superheroes do what they do for a variety of reasons: the greater good, truth, justice, any number of things, though of course these moms don't allow radioactive spiders in their homes. When asked what keeps them going during the dark hours, Sergeant Walker had a simple answer: "My kids are my motivation - they are the reason I do what I do. On those real hard days, I just look at those two faces and everything is right."