Photo By Bob Harrison | BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN (July 1, 2016) - Allison Flanagan and Lakisha Porter...... read more read more
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BAGRAM AIRFIELD, AFGHANISTAN (July 12, 2016) – There are a multitude of personal sacrifices that any service member or civilian must make in order to deploy overseas and serve our national interests. Perhaps the greatest sacrifice is separation from family and loved ones. Everyone who is mobilized prepares for this time apart by devising ways to keep in touch during special family moments that will occur while a loved one is deployed.
Two Los Angeles-area sisters found a unique way to bridge some of that distance from family. Lakisha Porter and Allison Flanagan decided they would volunteer, together, with the Department of Defense Civilian Expeditionary Workforce (CEW) to serve a year in Afghanistan. They might be apart from some of their family, but at least one of their family will be here.
Family members deploying at the same time isn’t that uncommon; however, the odds decrease when the family members represent less than two percent of any population. Lakisha and Allison are identical twin sisters.
Born and raised in Los Angeles County, Lakisha and Allison started their first job together after graduating from Phineas Banning High School, Wilmington, Calif. They found part-time clerical jobs on Terminal Island near Long Beach that eventually turned into full time employment with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.
Their professional careers continued to evolve on similar paths as both became contracting specialists with the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, where they have both worked for more than two decades.
At this point in their lives, both married and with children, they talked about ways to continue to grow professionally, to do more with their skills, and perhaps do more in support of the military.
After receiving information about CEW, the two sisters and their family discussed the possibility.
“We thought about it, we talked to our families about it. Of course they were hesitant to let us go, especially both of our parents,” said Lakisha when discussing their initial decisions.
Allison added, “My two children are old enough to take care of themselves so the opportunity to deploy came up with CEW program. My twin sister Kisha and I talked about the CEW opportunity to deploy and she said she was putting her name in the hat.”
Part of their motivation came from their father, Terry Chambers, who was drafted into the Army in 1965 and served in Vietnam. The sisters are proud of their dad’s service and relate their U.S. Air Force employment as an extension of the family’s military tradition.
“Our father was so, very honored and proud to find out that we both were deploying,” said Allison.
“This deployment opportunity has given Kisha and I great perspective and so much more to talk about with our father when we get together,” Allison continued, “and it's great to share experiences that are meaningful and we all can better relate.”
“This is the only way we can give back,” Lakisha added. “My father was in the Army. My sister and I never had an opportunity to join the Army so we decided we would volunteer for one year…come over here and support the mission.”
Lakisha and Allison submitted packets to volunteer at the same time and Allison was selected first, mobilized in December, 2015 to work as an intelligence portfolio requirements manager in Kabul. Lakisha followed a few months later accepting a contracting analyst position with the Bagram Support Group headquarters.
“The support here is incredible,” Allison noted. “Most people here are mission focused and supports one another in getting the job done and it feels great to be a part of this mission.”
Their offset deployment timeline has allowed the sisters to schedule their rest and recuperation (R&R) leaves to return home at different times so that one of them is home every few months to see mom, dad, and the rest of the family. They hope to synchronize one last R&R and return home for a full family Thanksgiving dinner later this year – if the mission allows.
Two sisters, twins, both U.S. Air Force civilian employees, decide together that they will do their part -- deploy with CEW and serve in Afghanistan. Without realizing it when they volunteered, there would be one more interesting detail to their story.
Lakisha and Allison completed their mobilization preparation and training at Joint Base McGuire–Dix–Lakehurst, N.J. before deploying to Afghanistan.
Some 50 years earlier, their father, Terry, traveled from Los Angeles to complete his Army Basic Combat Training at Fort Dix, N.J. before deploying to Vietnam.
For Lakisha and Allison, to have trained prior to their first military deployment on the same military base as their father, Terry, was an added ‘family’ bonus to their decision to serve overseas.
| Date Taken: | 07.12.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 07.12.2016 02:09 |
| Story ID: | 203671 |
| Location: | AF |
| Web Views: | 1,504 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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