Photo By Senior Airman Megan Estrada | U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Angelique Prince, 23rd Force Support Squadron Airman...... read more read more
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MOODY AIR FORCE BASE – As a young Airman navigating the new lifestyle that is the military, Angelique Prince received her first impression of Air Force leadership when she was approached by her superior.
“He came up out of nowhere and started spouting off about how much he doesn't like gay people,” said Staff Sgt. Prince. “I didn't feel comfortable about coming out to anybody at the time, so nobody really knew, but it's kind of obvious sometimes.”
Many Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines still serving today remember when “don’t ask, don’t tell” was active. Staff Sgt. Prince enlisted two years after “don’t ask, don’t tell” was repealed; though inclusivity was still in short supply.
“I’m in a very male dominated job and I was the only female in my shop,” Prince said. “There was a technical sergeant that didn’t like my sexual orientation so he didn’t treat me like everybody else.”
The noncommissioned officer tried to bring Prince down by telling her she didn’t deserve to deploy, and if she didn’t make it back from a deployment, she didn’t deserve a 21-gun salute because “It would be a waste.”
“I got 13 pieces of paperwork from this individual within a six-month time frame,” Prince said. “I was going to finish my contract and get out. I thought the entire Air Force was full of people not accepting me for who I am or judging me just by my sexual orientation.”
After Prince returned from deployment, she met a new Airman at her shop who is also part of the LGBTQ+ community and was transitioning from female to male. Prince didn’t know it then, but the new Airman would completely change Prince’s Air Force career forever.
“He was getting mounds of paperwork from the same individual I did, for the same discrimination,” Prince said. “They called him useless and started saying that he was mentally ill; that he got in the military so he could transition into a male.”
Prince saw herself when witnessing how the unit treated the new Airman. It was then Prince became a beacon of light for him.
“Leadership was very standoffish towards that Airman, and everybody at the time shrugged him off, so he came to me for direction,” Prince said.
However, there were few resources provided for service members in the LGBTQ+ community especially those transitioning at the time. That’s when Prince went to work in finding help for her wingman.
“He was the first one at Luke Air Force Base to get that transition process going,” Prince said. “We had to figure out how to navigate the system. I wanted to help and do anything I could. I did the research and legwork that my supervisors never did for me, that young Airman Prince was screaming for.”
Prince became the change she wanted to see in the Air Force. Currently, In the 23rd Force Support Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, she takes on the highly regarded role as an Airman Leadership School instructor to further guide and support the Air Force’s future leaders.
“I think becoming an instructor is my platform,” she said. “I saw the opportunity and I took it because this is where I can train supervisors to know about diversity, inclusion and the helping agencies in the Air Force. When I get out of my ALS tour, twenty five percent of the base will have been through our doors and will have that mindset. We make that big of an impact.”
According to Master Sgt. Patrick Goldston, 23rd FSS ALS commandant, Prince doesn’t let much of her past impact how she leads in the future.
“The thing that stands out about Prince is she always moves forward no matter what is going on,” Goldston said. “I don’t know many people that can truly manage that level of professional workload and development without sacrificing themselves in some way. She truly epitomizes the ‘don’t let anything or anyone hold you back’ mantra.”
Prince follows the strategic approach of ‘accelerate change or lose’ implemented by U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown and Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass. Every day she pushes her Airmen to be the change they want to see.
“I think my past molded me to be a better supervisor,” Prince said. “Everybody should reach out and know their resources and know where to turn Airmen if they have any kind of problem. There are no cookie cutter Airmen; everyone's different. Everybody has a story.”
| Date Taken: | 09.16.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 09.16.2021 10:31 |
| Story ID: | 405389 |
| Location: | MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 101 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Airman paves the way for inclusivity, by SrA Megan Estrada, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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