Air traffic controller considers Air Force her second family

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  • By Tech. Sgt. Phyllis Duff
  • Air Force Print News
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  With nearly 300 flights coming in and out of Laughlin AFB every day, new and seasoned pilots depend upon the support from air traffic controllers to send them out and bring them back home safely to their base and families.

One air traffic controller on the ground guiding pilots over Del Rio, Texas, skies makes it her mission to ensure aviators take off and land safely so they will make it back home since in her eyes all Airmen are her family.  

Airman 1st Class Stormi Samantha Gilman of the 47th Operations Support Squadron helps support the 2,000 sorties per week this pilot training base conducts because "the Air Force is like a second family to me," she said.

Having lived on her own since 15, Airman Gilman's role as an air traffic controller is just her fit. She said she loves the instant gratification and constant challenge of being an air traffic controller. 

"You can't set a goal for the day; you set a goal for the minute in order to get the guys home safe," she said.

In 2004, the 18-year-old from San Jose, Calif., decided to leave her hometown and family to focus on a career. Unsure about going to college, the young adventurer joined the Air Force for good training and to "set a good example" for her nieces and nephews, she said.

What she said she enjoys even more than being an air traffic controller for the Air Force is being in the Air Force itself. It is like being in a great, big "close-knit family," like her's from back home, said the Airman with 30 cousins.

Off duty, Airman Gilman breaks away from the dark confines and serious concentration of the control room and steps into comedic character roles with the Del Rio Upstagers theater group.

Being a part of this volunteer guild makes her feel like she's "part of the community even if it isn't my hometown," she said.