After leaving the active duty Air Force to be with her family back home, Staff Sergeant Heather Stoffer joined the Air National Guard in 2014 to continue her service and commitment to help others. She now works as a Plan Scheduling and Documentation Airman at the 179th Airlift Wing.
“We’re basically maintenance planners,” said Stoffer. “We`re that middle man between ops and maintenance.”
Most of her job involves strategic planning of the maintenance schedules for C-130H Hercules aircraft, although she also gives back in a more personal way.
“I became a victim advocate in June of 2011, that was something that kind of opened my eyes to a whole new aspect of things,” Stoffer said. “I was never really involved with that sort of thing, with victim advocacy in any way, I almost did it for just something extra to volunteer my time”.
She quickly learned however that it was more than just another volunteer opportunity and that being a victim advocate is a critically important role to play for others.
“Advocacy has become an important part of being there for the victim,” says Stoffer. “They have to go through as a victim, from the beginning to the end of what happened to them”.
For her, being there for the victim is the most important part, and even the simple act of just listening to their story can be impactful.
“Being there for them after they have to tell their story is really important because, for the most part, not many people around them know what is going on” says Stoffer.
SSgt Stoffer takes pride in being the person that a victim can go to, and as someone who understands the Air Force says that having someone from the beginning to the end is a what is needed most for a victim.
“The Guard is more of a family,” said Stoffer. “You’re with the same people for 20, 30 years if that’s how long you stay”.