Military service runs in the family

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Andre Bowser
  • 944th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. --  A family tradition stemming from a grandfather's military service lives today through two Airmen and a Marine. 

U.S. Air Force Reserve Senior Airmen James and Jennifer Hunt, both of the 944th Security Forces Squadron, have continued the military tradition started with a grandfather's service in the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Their youngest sibling, Private Jeremy Hunt, recently graduated from U.S. Marine Corps boot camp, following in the tradition of his grandfather before him. 

"We want to start a new military family tradition," said Senior Airman James Hunt, who joined the active Air Force in 2002 and served for about three years before leaving to attend college. Now a reservist, he says he missed the military and was drawn back into his current role. He now manages a full-time career, family with a wife and two children, as well as his work as a security forces member. 

"My big brother inspired me," said Senior Airman Jennifer Hunt, who served in the active Air Force for five years beginning in 2004. "I went to visit him when he was stationed in Alaska and he said 'I think you'll do great' in the Air Force." 

Both siblings share the unique privilege of being stationed at the same base in the same unit as a family member, in the larger family of the 944th Security Forces Squadron. 

But that distinction may end soon. 

"I put in my paperwork to transfer, today," said Senior Airman Jennifer Hunt, who is planning to move to Virginia to attend school and be closer to her boyfriend. Although she plans to work with a reserve security forces unit stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, she said her civilian ambition is eventually become a hair stylist. 

"I wanted to do hair since I was a little girl," she said. "It's just something I wanted to do for as long as I can remember." 

Senior Airman Jennifer Hunt is expected to move to Virginia in the coming months, literally leaving behind family and friends in the 944th Fighter Wing. 

Senior Airman James Hunt said he first became interested in the Air Force as a way to learn a trade, serve his country, and to earn money for college. 

He served in a civil engineering squadron during his active tour, and became a security forces member when he entered the reserve. 

"Law enforcement is something I am definitely interested in," said the father of two. He works in the housing industry in his civilian career. 

Senior Airman James Hunt said perhaps his greatest military achievement was inspiring tomorrow's servicemembers by continuing a tradition started by his grandfather, and carried on by he and his two younger siblings.
 
"My grandfather was a Marine, and now my little brother just graduated from Marine Corps boot camp," said Senior Airman James Hunt, with a beaming smile and spark in his eye. 

Senior Airman Jennifer Hunt matched her older brother's smile as she looked at a picture of her younger sibling in Marine dress uniform -- every bit the doting big sister. 

"Look at that face, my little brother has truly become a man," she said.