Fate reunites key players in 33-year education odyssey

  • Published
  • By Chrissy Zdrakas
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) --  Don Jenrette was an Air Force one-striper working on the back of a mail truck here in the pre-e-mail days of 1971. He said he suspected that his life, while interesting, held more promise than running eight to 10 daily mail routes peppered with stacks of “Holey Joes.”

His suspicions were confirmed when he met June Bradley, an education counselor in her first year of federal service in the education office. With her counseling and the education program she mapped out, the Airman began a journey that ended recently when he received his doctorate in education. Ms. Bradley, as it turned out, played a role in that process, too.

The two had parted ways in the early 1970s, he to another assignment and she to advancements in her career field.

“For the next 30 years, I lost contact with Ms. Bradley, but as fate had it, I saw her again when she worked with the (family support center here),” Dr. Jenrette said. “During those 30 years, I received three college degrees -- an associate’s degree from the Community College of the Air Force; a bachelor’s degree from Troy State University; and a master’s degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.”

Dr. Jenrette, now drug demand reduction program manager with Air Force Reserve Command, asked the director of the family support center, Christine Parker, for help getting out a questionnaire he needed for research for his doctoral dissertation, “Career Decision-Making Difficulties of the transition from Military to Civilian Sector.”

Ms. Parker told him the go-to person for the questionnaire was Ms. Bradley, who was working military transition issues and overseeing three-day transition assistance program workshops at the center. Ms. Bradley was more than happy to help.

“I remembered our first meeting, when she asked me what I wanted to do,” Dr. Jenrette said. “I told her I didn’t want to be on the back of a mail truck the rest of my life.”

Because he liked working with people rather than equipment, she recommended psychology, the area in which he earned his bachelor’s degree.

Ms. Bradley said she saw the promise in Dr. Jenrette from the beginning.

“Don had so much potential, and it was obvious he would go places,” she said. “He was self-motivated and had some direction about what he wanted to do. I was in a place where I could say ‘Here are some steps you need to take’. It’s a blessing to have a young person come along with some goals and then be able to help.”

Ms. Bradley said she “grew up in the education office,” and has had 20 years in education as a counselor and then, a Professional Military Education instructor. Since her first meeting with Dr. Jenrette, she has gone from the education office to family support and back to education again, this time as acquisition professional development program manager. Before starting her career in civil service, she taught school and served 28 months in the Air Force.

“It is so satisfying to know that I helped Don and so many others,” she said. “There is no way to describe things like this -- they are better than money. Money’s good -- that’s a fact of life. But I think real satisfaction comes in having the opportunity to help people. You spend money, and it’s gone, but satisfaction will always be there in my heart.”

Ms. Bradley and Dr. Jenrette said the moral to their story is that the quest for education is worth it.

“The Air Force has great programs out there, and I’m hoping (others) will take advantage of the opportunities offered to them,” he said. “In my case, the Air Force paid for 75 percent and at times, 90 percent, of my degree. My investment was time and books, which in both cases were well worth it.”

And what does Ms. Bradley tell young people? The same thing she told that one-striper in 1971, “Prioritize, figure out where you are and where you want to go. Then get on with it.”