News

Aerial port manager helps women veterans

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Minnette Mason
  • 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
MCCHORD AIR FIELD, Wash. --  The 446th Airlift Wing is home to a port manager who assists women veterans through a local organization that was founded by women veterans. 

Senior Master Sgt. Wendy Hutchins, from the 86th Aerial Port Squadron, said it is also important to "stay connected" with other women who have served. She said her goal is to "let all veteran women know" what benefits are available to them.

Hutchins recently received the annual Outreach and Resource Services [for Women Veterans] Award for her contributions with the OARS organization for her work in 2014.

"We are so proud of her work because it helps us better assist our women veterans on a daily basis," Julia Sheridan, co-founder of OARS for Women Veterans, writes in her letter.

Hutchins became a board member for the organization in June 2013, a few months after learning the organization existed. Her discovery, however, arose when she lost a close family member.

"I had come back from Afghanistan in 2013. I'd been back about a month and a half, and my older sister passed away unexpectedly," Hutchins explained. "I was on leave for a month, and I didn't go back to [my civilian job]."

While making financial arrangements after her sister's death, Hutchins was referred to OARS.

"I didn't have people around me who have gone through what I'd gone through. I didn't need anything except that human interaction from another vet who understood what I was going through," she added.

"Julia didn't know me from Adam. [She] dropped everything that day, and came to my home and sat with me, let me cry, and let me tell her the story," Hutchins said. "The comraderie allowed me to start the healing process."

Hutchins joined the organization. She serves on the board as the secretary and helps to promote OARS events, an annual auction, Veteran's Day Brunch, and annual workshop, supporting women veterans who need jobs.

The annual workshop is 8 to 10 different employers looking to hire vets and talking to job candidates about their companies.

"They're a little bit more sensitive to your needs because they know that some [women] are coming out of the service," Hutchins added.

Transitioning from being a veteran to a civilian is a feat that Hutchins, as well as other Airmen, eventually encounter in their careers. She has served in the Air Force for 22 years as an aerial porter. When Hutchins is not on military status, she is a conductor for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.

"We're all vets. We all stay connected by coming out on the weekends," Hutchins said. "But when you leave the Reserve, you typically don't stay connected as a veteran woman. I see OARS as a way to help [other women veterans]."