Keeping it 'in the family'

  • Published
  • By Maj. Shannon Mann
  • 916th Public Affairs Office
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  "It runs in the family."

You've heard people say it for a variety of reasons...personality traits, physical traits, but it might be most true when it comes to the patriotism trait.
Military service runs in families.

Master. Sgt. William Lester knows this first-hand. The 916th Security Forces first sergeant has two sons serving in the military. One enlisted in August while his dad was deployed.

"He's always been interested in what I do, and how my weekends or trips went," said Lester from his deployed location. "This is the third deployment he's endured as the son of a Reservist."

By 'he' Lester means his son C. Bryan Lester. Bryan took the oath of enlistment and joined the 916th Air Refueling Wing as a crew chief working on the KC-135R.

The senior Lester said he just recently started talking to his son about the benefits of the Air Force Reserve and how the 916th could offer the young man an opportunity to work in a career field he might carry with him into the civilian world.

"It was one of those talks, with teenagers, where you felt like it might have gone in one ear and out the other," said Lester. "Until two days later when he walked up to me and said "Can you call the recruiter?"

Bryan Lester put his information into the GetOne Website and received a call the next day.

Lester's step-daughter, Whitney, is a junior at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and his younger son, Jason, also enlisted with the active duty Air Force earlier this summer.

Unfortunately due to the activation and deployment, dad was unable to see either of his sons enlist.

"It would have been nice to be there, but such is the nature of deployments. I've spent the last two months activated with some of the best and brightest Airmen the Air Force has to offer," said Lester. "I'm one lucky parent because I know, first hand, the outstanding Airmen he'll be joining at the 916th."