Florida Veteran Health Heroes

7 Florida Veteran Health Heroes When Elaine was born in 1965, the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. She spent her early child- hood reared by her mother, and her Baba (short for Babushka, grandmother in Rus- sian), after the death of her father and maternal grandfather in the same year. Both men had been in the military, World War II, and Korea, although her parents’ families were rather new American citizens recently immigrated from Germany and Russia. Both of her maternal great grandparents came from Russia around the time of World War I. Her Baba was the third child born in the U.S., with her mother as part of the next generation. In 1984, Elaine enlisted in the Air Force. After USAF Basic training, she was sent to Lowry AFB, Colorado, to learn about supply systems. Her first official base was Hahn AB, Germany. She was part of the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing, United States Armed Forces in Europe (USAFE), 50th Supply Squadron. The next orders for her duty sta- tion, was Grand Forks AFB, ND, where she was a part of the 319th Supply Squadron of the Strategic Air Com- mand called “Warriors of the North.” Fortunately, she arrived in July, giving her enough time to adjust to the extreme cold of North Dakota, being a former Floridian. At Grand Forks, she was in charge of maintaining three small storerooms in the warehouse. She later cross- trained into a Supply Systems Specialist, the base supply version of a systems analyst, and was part of the base mobility team. The team was required to keep a bag packed of specific items at all times and to be ready in 30 minutes to report to duty when called. Elaine was discharged from the Air Force in 1990 after becoming pregnant with her daughter because she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to be an active duty mom. She later learned that her decision was right as her mobility unit shipped out three months after her daughter was born, for Operation Desert Shield. After leaving active duty status, she went to Grissom AFB, Indiana, as a military dependent spouse. In 1992, she returned home to Florida. Based on her experience in Germany, she decided to look into Respiratory Ther- apy and later enrolled at Erwin Technical Center in 1993. Since then she has worked at hospitals in five Tampa Bay area counties. Elaine is currently sub-specializing as a Registered Pulmonary Functions Technician. Elaine has enjoyed a very passionate 25-year career in Respiratory Therapy, working in several areas in the field. Elaine has also been an active volunteer for Better Breathers of Tampa for three years. She’s been a speak- er twice for the Tampa Fight for Air Climb, a fundrais- er for the American Lung Association that takes place in March every year. She’s a member of the American Legion, Post 108, in Lutz/ Land O’ Lakes and currently serves as Post Historian. Elaine is more aware now of the number of women serving our nation in combat ar- eas and hopes to make things easier for brave women warriors by increasing the awareness of female veterans. Elaine M. Brooker-Stoots, CRT 9 2019 l ri t r lt r s