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Video by Staff Sgt. Taylor White

The Lawson Family: Every Step of the Way

9th Reconnaissance Wing

Aug. 8, 2019 | 3:11

The Lawson family started as two young kids on a football field, from there they evolved into a mil-to-mil couple who are working to keep the Recce Town community safe.

[Justin] We met as kids. - We would run into each other at football and cheer events, and then eventually I became a cheer coach for that same program, and then he was a football coach. - She knew she wanted to join the Air Force from the time she was a young kid. Her mom's retired Air Force, her dad and her mom met in the Air Force. - With the help of my mom, we both sat and talked about it together with her, and decided we're gonna join. So Justin actually left for basic training the week before I did. I immediately started writing letters to him, and then a week later I swore in. I think I said something to my MTI about my husband being a week ahead of me, and he was so nice about it. My MTI got me permission to visit with him on the training side of base for an hour on two of the days. - [Justin] I ended up getting picked up for ground radar systems - [Elaini] I left training to become a fusion analyst. I graduated, and we both got our assignment to Alaska together. I had my first kid, and then my second kid, and I started to realize that I felt like I couldn't balance work and family. - I ran into a guy during the safety inspection, I started asking him questions like, "How'd you get into it?" And he's like, "Oh, well it's retrain only." Everything lined up nicely, and I went ahead and moved forward with it. - We got our assignment to Beale. I stayed in the career field for about two more years because of the First Term Airman Retrain Program. I realized like, hey, this is a really good opportunity. So I started looking at the list and seeing what type of jobs were available. After looking at the list, there wasn't much that really stood out to me besides safety. We started having conversations about what would it be like if we started our day and ended our day together? - We're quietly competitive with each other. That's been really good for us. It's like this quiet competition that's allowed us to continue to push each other non-verbally, and it's been every step of the way we've matched each other. - [Elaini] I had finished my retrain, and we knew our schedules were gonna be consistent, and that was when we really were like okay, let's see if we can have another, and here we are. The official due date is November 29th. - We feel extremely fortunate. We feel like things have kind of broken our way in a lot of situations to help us, but there are so many resources available to you, and people. - [Elaini] I don't think we would be nearly as successful as we are without the support from our family, our military family, and our extended family. (peaceful music)