By Pat Wagner
IV Leader Staff
Four years after graduating from IVCC, Tena Wagner's life has changed dramatically.
At IVCC she sat in classes, worked on projects, went to the gym, played volleyball and softball and hung out with her friends.
Now she still hangs out with friends, but they are likely to be fellow crewmembers on the C130 to which she is assigned, and they may be hanging out in Georgia, Utah, Puerto Rico, or a foreign country.
Since completing her Air Force training as a Loadmaster, Wagner has been stationed at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, except for two short stays in the Middle East and a brief time in Europe. Most of her work involves routine delivery flights to various places in the U.S. or Puerto Rico.
At press time, the 1996 graduate of Marquette High School was on a tour that includes Spain, Italy and Algeria.
Responding to a question about the most unusual part of her job, she said, "I don't know if there's an unusual part; we did some pretty weird things."
She acknowledged that air drops, when a load is dropped from a still moving plane, is what she considers the most interesting. Though airdrops are usually done only in wartime conditions, doing them is a part of the crews' on-going training.
But even the routine transport work has an element of excitement. Recently she was involved in transporting two Vice-Presidential limousines and several Secret Service personnel, a challenging task because the limos were loaded at a snow-covered location.
Wagner's job makes her responsible for determining the balance of weight of cargo and passengers. She may supervise the loading, and she must ensure that supplies being transported are adequately secured, since cargo broken loose from its restraints might crash through the plane risking the lives of everyone on board.
When the crew loaded the limos, work that should have been routine became an exercise in perseverance. Chemicals intended to melt the snow made it more frigid and sloppy, and by the time the vehicles were secured, she was thoroughly wet and cold.
Although Wagner does not plan on a career in the Air Force, when she completes a bachelor's degree, she does plan to stay in the air.
"I can't imagine having a 9 to 5 type of job," she said, adding that she is very much enjoying her time in the Air Force.