Airman carries on female family tradition

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Kat A. Bailey
  • 433rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Throughout history, men in the same families have served side by side and generation after generation.

Grandfathers, fathers and sons fought together in the Revolutionary War. Brothers clashed with brothers during the Civil War. It was not unusual to find brothers, uncles and in-laws serving together in World War I. For many men, then and today, military service is a tradition upheld by at least one person from every generation.

That proud family tradition of military service continues within the 433rd Airlift Wing here, but this time it is by a group of women.

As the third generation of her family to sign up with the Air Force, 20-year-old Airman 1st Class Brianna Cantu of San Antonio, joins her mother, Capt. Julie John-Cantu, and her great-aunt, retired Lt. Col. Diana Curi-Ryder, in serving her country. The three women have almost 60 years of combined service, and Airman Cantu is just getting started.

As an officer, Captain John-Cantu was able to administer the oath of enlistment to her daughter.

“We both enlisted on the same date, Aug. 8; I joined in 1977, and Brianna joined in 2003,” Captain John-Cantu said. “It wasn’t a planned thing. We didn’t even realize it until we signed the paperwork.”

For Airman Cantu, there was never any question of enlisting in the Air Force Reserve.

“As far back as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to join the service,” Airman Cantu said. “When my mom returned from [Operation] Desert Storm, I used to try on all her military stuff, like her boots and flak vest. I knew I would someday follow in her footsteps.”

On Feb. 13, cheered on by her mother and great-aunt, Airman Cantu graduated from basic military training and started her journey to become a medical technician specializing in aerospace medicine.

“That day was the coldest, wettest, nastiest day of the year,” Captain John-Cantu said. “When those young men and women came into view on the parade ground, marching with honor and pride as if nothing in the world could ever hurt them, it brought tears to my heart. Their attitude in the face of that type of weather meant more to me than the sunniest day ever could.”

Airman Cantu is now at technical school at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas. When her training is complete, she will be assigned to the 433rd AW as Captain John-Cantu and Colonel Curi-Ryder have done before her.

“I wasn’t ready to leave home just yet, so I signed up in the Reserve … to feel it out and see how I like it,” Airman Cantu said.

Airman Cantu still has months of training left before she can return to San Antonio in mid-October.

She said she is not sure of her Air Force career plans.

“After my initial six years, I might go active; I don’t know. I do know I won’t quit -- after doing six years, you might as well go the whole way to 20,” she said.

Serving her full 20 years would bring Airman Cantu’s family up to 80 years of combined military service. Her great-aunt served 32 years in the Air Force Reserve, receiving her commission as a second lieutenant in 1965 after completing her registered nursing degree in Corpus Christi, Texas.

“After spending three years training on C-119s, C-124s and C-141 [Starlifters], our unit was activated in May 1968, and we deployed to Japan to assist the 56th Aeromedical Evacuation Group during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam,” Colonel Curi-Ryder said. “We picked up the injured [troops] from Tan San Nhut, Da Nang, Saigon, and other places and flew them into the U.S., Alaska, the Philippines, Guam or Japan. Many returned in body bags -- too many to count.”

The colonel’s career included many assignments to different units within the 433rd AW. Her final assignment was the 433rd AES.

Captain John-Cantu currently serves as a clinical nurse team leader at the 433rd Medical Squadron at Wilford Hall Medical Center here. She said she hopes to fly at least one mission with her daughter.

“I’ve flown several missions with my aunt here because we had the same job in the same unit,” Captain John-Cantu said. “We were even both in the same Army Reserve unit in 1980 … when I first enlisted as an X-ray technician, and [we] flew together there, too.”

Following her Army stint, Captain John-Cantu joined the Air Force Reserve as a medical technician flight instructor. She completed her nursing degree and received her commission to second lieutenant in 1993.

“I was honored to pin her second lieutenant bars on her,” Colonel Curi-Ryder said. “She continued on to flight school, and I was again honored to pin her wings on at graduation.”

Captain John-Cantu credits her aunt for her decision to join the military. She describes all the women of her family as strong, sensitive and supportive.

“They are my hope and inspiration,” Captain John-Cantu said. “My aunt lifted me up and led me to a path that I wouldn’t have seen without her. She came back from Vietnam as a flight nurse, and she was my world.”

Colonel Curi-Ryder said she is proud both her niece and great-niece are strong women.

“They will both bring their strengths and loyalties to their peers wherever they serve,” she said.

Airman Cantu also considers the women in her family as her biggest inspiration. She said they have stuck with her through every situation.

“I’m proud to be a woman with education and discipline,” she said. “I’m ready to make my family proud of me, to carry on our tradition of service and become a credit to every man and woman in uniform.”