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Married Senior Airmen reenlist together

  • Published
  • By Joel Langton
  • 47th Flying Training Wing public affairs
LAUGHLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  The winding road of Senior Airmen Luis and Angeles Perez's, who have been Air Force members for four years and husband and wife for a little more, took another positive turn Oct. 30.

A few minutes after 9 a.m., they took turns raising their right hands in the wing conference room and enlisted for four more years in the Air Force.

They each initially enlisted at the military entrance processing station in 2005. Airman Angeles Perez joined the Air Force Nov. 15 and Airman Luis Perez Nov. 29. They said they saw the Air Force as a route to something a little better, and a way out of their hometown of Firebaugh, Calif.

For Airman Luis Perez, college was too expensive. He said he saw the Air Force as a way to pay for his education.

Airman Angeles Perez was sold on the Air Force when she attended her brother's graduation from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.

It seemed like a natural step for them to get married and then join the Air Force.

Marriage was the part that almost didn't happen.

They spent half of each day together in high school. Neither can say when they first noticed each other. They argue over if it was in biology, chemistry or calculus.

"I knew who she was, but I was the nerd in the back of the room," Airman Luis Perez said.

They finished high school as friends, but not much more. They were two smart kids who helped each other with homework and happened to live a mile from each other. A month after graduation, Angeles accidentally called Luis.

The accidental phone call led to Luis, the nerd in the back of the room, getting Angeles to come over and watch television. And the rest, as they say, is history.

A year later, they married, joined the Air Force, and a few months after that, they were stationed at Laughlin.

Airman Angeles Perez said she saw the Air Force as a great deal and planned on giving it four years, and then focusing on being a mom.
Ariana, the couple's daughter, was born two years into their tenure at Laughlin. Airman Angeles Perez said she liked the Air Force, but knew she'd have to do at least one deployment during her first four years and wasn't looking forward to four months away from her daughter, she said.

When she got the orders to go to Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq, she knew it was part of the job and went. What she didn't know, was those four months would change her perspective on the Air Force.

Airman Angeles Perez was assigned to the unit control center and responsible for ensuring everyone was safe and accounted for after attacks. Kirkuk averaged two mortar attacks per week during her deployment.
While the base was under attack, the Air Force was changing from a job to a profession for Airman Angeles Perez.

"I got to see how my job makes a difference. We were there and we were in the fight," she said."When I left for the deployment, I wasn't going to reenlist. When I got back, I knew I was going to."

For Airman Luis Perez, a medical readiness manager, the decision was a little easier.
"I liked the Air Force. I liked what we do, I just expected to reenlist," he said.

He's involved in the fight as well, ensuring that medical group members have what they need when they deploy. He keeps track of medical group members, and if they need something, he gets it out to them.

"I see the fight through our deployed members' eyes," he said. "I'd like to deploy, but right now, it's important that I make sure our people have what they need."

Now there is another twist in the road ahead of them.
They've been at Laughlin for more than three years, and it's natural to expect a move in the near future.

However, their leadership has a simple objective: "We want to keep them here," said Col. Bruce Peters, 47th Medical Group commander.

However, Airmen Luis and Angeles Perez know the truth. You just never know what's around the corner.