From 1999 to 2001, Staff Sgt. Monica Perry was disciplined, educated, and trained as an Aviation Resource Management Craftsman and received her first set of official orders, assigned to the 94th Fighter Squadron in Langley, Virginia. The patch on her Squadron jacket read ‘Ops Chick.’ Growing up in the military and finding her place in the world was exciting and adventurous, to say the least. As a special operations flight controller, she thrived and learned how to receive direct and lawful orders. She became a leader of her peers and understood the chain of command.
September 11, 2001- Langley Air Force base went into lockdown as reports of terrorist hijacked commercial aircraft were targeting the World Trade Center. In her capacity as a command squadron air traffic controller, Monika deployed a pair of F-15 fighter jets to intercept a commercial aircraft on a direct flight path toward the United States Pentagon. In the terrible aftermath of the terror attack on our nation, she simultaneously received a meritorious medal for Airman of the Year in her command squadron and was diagnosed with Post 9/11 Respiratory Disease. Rather than being deterred by a sense of fear or incapacitation, Monika doubled down and pursued pharmaceutical technical training and became a combat medic as President Bush declared war on Iraq.
In a flurry of activity, she was flown overseas to accompany a forward-deployed Army detachment unit into combat in Iraq in 2003. Monika learned how to perform emergency medical triage to prevent battlefield casualties of war. ‘Ops Chick’ had transformed to ‘Medic!’. She was well respected and liked amongst the soldiers. Then…all hell broke loose.
