Twins serve together at JBSA

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Lauren Parsons
  • Joint Base San Antonio Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas --  

Although she is younger by 19 minutes, Staff Sgt. Codi Goodwin never misses an opportunity to brag about her older fraternal twin sister or tell people she also happens to be stationed at Joint Base San Antonio.

“Whenever we get new command in, they always go around the room and ask one thing about you, so I always brag that I have a twin sister at Lackland,” said Goodwin, 359th Medical Group health service management craftsman, stationed at JBSA-Randolph.

With nearly 100 installations spanning three continents, Goodwin and Senior Airman Kaley Weir know it’s a rare opportunity for siblings to be stationed in the same place, and they plan to take advantage of it for as long as the Air Force allows them to do so.

“With twins in the military, you would think they’d be at different bases,” said Goodwin. “But we’re 20 to 30 minutes away from each other, so that’s pretty sweet. You just don’t see that combination.”

But the Seal Beach, Calif., natives didn’t both end up at JBSA by chance. While in technical training, Weir received an assignment to Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., but switched with a fellow classmate to go to JBSA-Lackland.

After seeing the amount of respect her father, a retired Navy master chief petty officer, received at work, Goodwin said she knew from around her sophomore year of high school she wanted to join the Air Force. Weir, however, didn’t have the same career aspirations and planned to go off to college. After spending two summers in a Toyota parts factory working in welding, Weir was ready for a change.

“I didn’t want to join when she did,” said Weir, 802nd Security Forces Squadron corrections specialist. I knew she did it, and I thought it was too scary. I didn’t want to leave my friends. I tried the college thing, and I really didn’t like it.

“I wasn’t going anywhere,” continued Weir. “I saw how good she [Goodwin] was doing and I said, ‘I have to try that.’”

So three years after Goodwin enlisted, Weir raised her right hand and joined the Air Force in 2013.

Now Weir works at the confinement facility at JBSA-Lackland Medina Annex, a job she applied and was selected for. She achieved senior airman below the zone and has been selected for staff sergeant, which she will put on in May or June 2017. All of which wouldn’t have been possible if her twin hadn’t joined before her, she said. 

While the sisters know they won’t be at the same base forever, they’re enjoying spending as much time together as possible, watching movies while Weir cooks her special, shrimp tacos, for Goodwin and her husband and Weir’s boyfriend. They also meet up with their cousin, Genny, who is also stationed at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.

And although they aren’t identical, they still get a laugh at being occasionally mixed up as the other at the gate.

“It’s going to be so boring when I PCS,” said Goodwin. “I always have something to do or somewhere to go [with Weir]. I feel like actually not a lot of people have that. People think the military keeps you away from your family, but obviously, it brought us closer.”