Photo By Tech. Sgt. Shawn White | Tech. Sgt. Yulia Yambarsheva, 336th Air Refueling Squadron inflight refueling...... read more read more
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Reserve Resiliency at its best
By Staff Sgt. Shawn White, 1st Combat Camera Squadron, OL-C
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. - The American dream, being able to become anything, a famous actor, a scientist, a boom operator, isn’t globally universal. In 1980s Soviet Union, your future is chosen for you.
Picture it, 1980s Soviet Union. A Russian father in his 30s works a grueling week in the factories only to find out he will not get paid for his efforts. He returns home to his wife and two children and is given rations ticket from his block manager. He travels to the store to find only a few loaves of bread, sugar and flour on the shelves. It’s going to be another hungry week, like so many before.
“Coming to America was a no brainer,” said Tech. Sgt. Yulia Yambarsheva, a Russian immigrant and 336th Air Refueling Squadron inflight refueling specialist. “Everyone wanted to go to America because it was so rich, had the best education and it was so much more beautiful. Just to have the opportunity to work here and try and succeed to make a better life was everything.”
Yambarsheva was born in the town of Yoshkar-Ola in the 1980s Soviet Union, which was in her words, a time of corruption, religious persecution and oppression from local mafia organizations.
“A lot of my peers from school didn’t make it and lacked the vision to better themselves,” said Yambarsheva. “They either got murdered or died of alcoholism. The very low percentage that did make it moved to Moscow, Canada or America.”
As a middle school student, Yambarsheva said she remembers a military class that was held once a week that taught the students the assembly of the Avtomat Kalashnikov or AK-47, grenade training, nuclear bombing drills and gas mask training.
At the age of 19, Yambarsheva said her life was going nowhere. Peers her age who earned their degrees could not find work. Despite her family’s wishes, she packed up her life on January 14, 2002 and moved to the United States, specifically Idaho.
One day, she spotted a female U.S. military member.
“In Russia there were very few women in the military because at the time women were not allowed in almost every job,” said Yambarsheva. “When I came to America and saw female service members, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It had always been a dream of mine to be able to put a uniform on. My dad was in the Russian Navy and always put on war movies as a kid. My grandparents served in the Finnish War, WWI and WWII and I always loved seeing their medals.”
Yambarsheva then visited a Coast Guard recruiter but scored very poorly on the English portion of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB. Finding herself at a loss in Idaho, she moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and earned her citizenship in 2007. During her time in California, Yambarsheva struggled financially, mentally and had been laid off from multiple jobs.
“There were so many times I was broke, alone and depressed and wanted to pack up and move back home to my family,” said Yambarsheva. “I thought about how much I had grown from living in America and how badly I wanted to succeed. I couldn’t ever give up on my dreams. I had to work harder because I knew it wasn’t going to get any easier.”
In 2009 Yambarsheva earned a job as a European wine exporter and was able to stabilize her life both mentally and financially. From that moment, she decided it was time again to try to enlist in the military.
Yambarsheva visited the local library and checked out English books to study every day after returning home from work for several months. Finally, she decided to visit an Air Force Reserve recruiter. She retook the ASVAB and exceeded the standards.
In April 2010, Yambarsheva began Basic Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.
“I was so proud to have earned the uniform,” said Yambarsheva. “Although my family couldn’t attend my graduation, I told them that I had made it through and my father especially couldn’t believe what I had accomplished.”
After completion of her required military training she was assigned to the commander support staff, 452nd Logistics Readiness Squadron, March Air Reserve Base, California.
In 2014, she cross-trained to inflight refueling specialist and was assigned to the336th ARS.
“This is the happiest I’ve ever been in my entire life,” said Yambarsheva. “I have a great job, I have a roof over my head and my family is in good health. I couldn’t ask for a better life than what the Air Force has given me.”
| Date Taken: | 11.12.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 11.27.2019 12:54 |
| Story ID: | 353795 |
| Location: | MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 272 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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