America's North Shore Journal

Choosing the perfect roller derby nickname is important, the women said, because it becomes registered and is theirs forever. “Someone can call and ask to create a version of your name, but they have to get your permission,” Wahkahquah said.

Wahkahquah’s last name in Comanche means “riding death.” So, in keeping with the Native American theme, she chose “Rolling Death” as her alter ego.

Losing the weight isn’t necessarily going to make you like what you see. There are still a lot of times I step on the scale and cringe. It has to do with hitting the perfect weight, or more accurately, “the number” that signifies that perfect weight. That number is different for everyone. I remember seeing a girl who I thought looked perfect, and I asked her how much she weighed.

In joining the Air Force in 1997, Young said she wanted simply to serve and to have an opportunity to improve her education. She said it has worked out quite well.

“The Air Force has been quite good to me,” she said. “Through LEAD and the academy, I earned that education I wanted when I joined.”

There were plenty of intense situations that called on Malone to be at her best as her unit’s lead soldier. Twice, Malone’s convoy took direct hits as the lead vehicle traveling through Tikrit. The impact of the attacks left her with shoulder, neck and back injuries that cause her daily pain, and that she hopes to overcome through surgery and physical therapy.

The first direct hit with an IED happened in November 2006, when two anti-tank mines wired together exploded and damaged the front right corner of Malone’s Humvee.

Both women agree that there is not a lot of room for sensitivity in the aviation field.

They also agree that they are up to the challenge.

Women must try to do things as men have tried. When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others—Amelia Earhart.

“I love working with the planes,” she said. “It’s such a rush to work with air traffic.” She also takes pleasure in knowing she’s helped to get people back where they belong once their mission is complete.

“I really experienced that about a month ago when the Army was doing their changeover,” the sergeant said. “The C-17s were coming in, and I’m up here [in the tower] and can see hundreds of Army personnel loading onto the C-17. It was just incredible to know that we’re helping them get back to see their families.”

Being “vigilant” isn’t just a word to Senior Airman Jacqueline Lawson; it is part of her deployed duties with the 380th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.

Deployed to a non-disclosed base in Southwest Asia, Lawson is a security forces journeyman charged, along with fellow security forces, with providing security and force protection for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, its people and millions of dollars in deployed equipment and assets. To do that, she said this is where being “vigilant” comes in force.

This may not seem like the dream of the average American child, and it’s not, because Roach was born and raised in a small town called Adukrom Akwapin in Ghana, Africa.

“When I look back now, I was the happiest child in the midst of not having much,” Roach explained. “I was so happy because I had my grandmother, my aunt, the church and my friends I grew up with.”