Security Cooperation enables Airman’s American Dream

  • Published
  • By Vanessa R. Adame
  • 37th Training Wing Public Affairs
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --  

Even before she was born, Bryanna Garcia was destined to be an Airman. Her father then Master Sgt. Jacob Garcia of the Colombian Air Force, served here as a Partner Nation instructor at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy in 2006. His wife was five months pregnant when the family moved to accompany him on the long-term assignment. Born in the U.S. to Colombian parents, Garcia was only two years old when the family returned to Colombia. Early this May, almost 19 years later, she stood on the parade field near the very place she was born and swore to defend the nation her father once served with as an international partner. She was surrounded by approximately 800 others who endured seven-and-a-half weeks of Basic Military Training to become Airmen.

“It was my dream,” Airman Garcia said standing on the parade field just after graduation. “It was always something I knew I wanted to do.”

She grew up watching her father in his military uniform and listened to stories from his military life working in aviation maintenance – all experiences that shaped her desire to pursue the same career field as her father.

“I’m extremely proud of her,” said Garcia, now retired from the Colombian Air Force. “I drove past this parade field many times before when I worked here and now to be standing here with my daughter is very emotional.”

The Garcia family traveled to the U.S. for her graduation. They sat as close as they could to the graduating Airmen and watched Garcia march down the bomb run in a tradition to mark the end of BMT.

Getting here had been a journey. Airman Garcia visited the graduation grounds a few years before. She wanted to experience the sight and feel of graduation. She heard the roar of applause from families in the stands when the Airmen pledged to defend their country with their life and imagined herself standing among them one day.

She was determined to make her dream a reality. Airman Garcia prepared herself for the physical and mental demands, working hard to overcome a language barrier that came with speaking Spanish as a first language.

“It was hard in the beginning, but then I looked at the people next to me and I realized they were going through harder challenges,” she said. “I supported them and it gave me more strength to keep going.”

Col. Bryan Tuinman, IAAFA commandant and JBSA-Lackland leaders congratulated Airman Garcia on her accomplishment.

“It’s a powerful reminder that security cooperation extends beyond military partnerships. It builds enduring bonds between nations, families and future generations of Airmen,” Tuinman said.

He was one of the members who had gathered to support the Garcia family on graduation day. He joined Francisco Hernandez who attended with his family that unseasonably cool day in May to watch Garcia graduate from BMT. It was a nod to the enduring impact of lasting relationships created through security cooperation. Hernandez had worked with Garcia’s father at IAAFA when they were both in uniform and had since become a family of sorts.

As they walked onto the field together after the ceremony, the Garcias gave the distinction of tapping out the young Airman to Hernandez and his family.

“When you came to me and said you were ready to join the Air Force, I told you not yet,” Hernandez said as he looked at her. “When you talked to the recruiter and enlisted I said not yet.” He paused. “Now, now you are member of my Air Force.”

 

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