Category: Idaho Military Divison

Story by Airman 1st Class Taylor Walker
124th Fighter Wing

In 1986, Idaho Air National Guard Command Chief Master Sgt. Sid Brown was itching to leave the small town of New Plymouth, Idaho. With the financial burden of college heavy on his mind, he met with an Air Force recruiter in Ontario, Oregon, He quickly found himself in uniform, working as an F-16C weapons load crew member at Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

He didn’t know it at the time, but he had just embarked on a career that would last more than three decades and see three of his children follow him into military service. As the Idaho Air National Guard’s senior enlisted leader, Brown is ending his career as his children begin their own careers, each in a different military branch.

“It means a lot to me to have my children serving,” Sid said. “I believe everyone who is able should serve in some capacity – even if they don’t join the military – and I’m very happy they’ve all chosen unique paths to do that.”

The first of Sid’s kids to join the military was Everett Brown, a traffic management specialist with the Idaho Air National Guard’s 124th Fighter Wing at Gowen Field. Now a senior airman, Everett said the military is engrained in his family history.

“We have a very long bloodline of military in our family, all the way back to when they stormed the beaches of Normandy, to Vietnam and the world wars,” said Everett. “The tradition has carried on from generation to generation. It’s an established part of our lives.”

For Everett, joining the Idaho Air National Guard was a way to honor his father and the experiences he had as a child on Gowen Field.

“As a kid, I watched my dad come home from deployments and saw the respect and pride he had and I wanted to feel that way,” Everett said. “My dad has always been my hero and it didn’t matter what branch I ended up joining, I just wanted to work hard the same way he did.”

Everett left for basic training the same day his sister, Kassandra, enlisted in the Idaho Army National Guard.

Cpl. Kassandra Brown is an ammunitions specialist in Golf Company, 145th Brigade Support Battalion. Although she wasn’t initially sure what branch she wanted to join, she knew the military was where she belonged.

“Joining the military felt like something I needed to do,” said Kassandra. “None of my friends were surprised when I finally joined. I feel like I’ve always had that decision in my heart.”

Kassandra said between the conflicting schedules and excessive pride, there’s a bittersweet feeling when it comes to having a family full of military members.

“I feel very proud of my family, but also scared at the same time because you never know what will happen to them,” she said. “But we all have cool stories to share. In our family you always have someone to talk to. You always have someone to relate to.”

Everett and Kassandra’s brother Wesley, who joined the Navy in June 2019, agreed that the support from their family is invaluable.

“They really understand what I’m going through, especially my dad who has had active duty experience,” said Wesley. “He takes time to answer all of my questions.”

Seaman Wesley Brown is a hospital corpsman at Wayne Caron Clinic, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Although his mom’s side of the family has a rich naval history, Wesley’s motivation for joining the military had less to do with his family’s history of service.

“I mostly wanted to branch out from Idaho and experience the world through a different lens than the rest of my family,” he said.

Regardless of their selected branch or individual reasons for joining, Wesley said the military establishes a common thread between him and his siblings.

“I take pride in my family because we’re all doing our part to serve our country,” said Wesley. “We come from a good background with strong morals.”

Although Sid has decades of experience and sits in a highly regarded position, he largely keeps his influence to himself when it comes to his children.

“I do my best to stay out of their careers,” Sid said. “Good, bad or indifferent, it’s their path.”

According to a 2013 Pentagon report, more than 82% of recruits across the Army, Navy and Air Force have a family member who has served in the military. Whether that’s the case or not for a military hopeful, Sid emphasized that it’s important for parents to be supportive of their children’s decisions.

“The military is a great career path,” he said. “Your kids will learn new skills, get great benefits and a great education. They’ll have to stay off drugs and they’ll potentially see the world. Don’t be afraid. Don’t stifle their decisions.”

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By Ryan White
124th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

Staff Sgt. Mason Allen and his sister, Staff Sgt. Camas Villafana, were both responsible for each other’s decisions to become Idaho National Guardsmen. Allen, who was the first to join the military, chose to enlist in the active duty Air Force in 2014. He then influenced his sister’s decision to join the Idaho Air National Guard in 2015. Now the siblings have come full circle. This year, Villafana influenced her brother’s recent decision to join the IDANG after leaving active duty.

One would think Allen, a former aircraft integrated avionics specialist for the A-10 Thunderbolt II, would be joining the IDANG to continue working on the A-10s. However, he is following in his sister’s footsteps and the two are serving side-by-side at the 124th Medical Group.

“I was considering joining the National Guard,” said Allen. “After talking to my sister, it allowed me to see what was available to me at this unit.”

While Villafana was looking into options for Allen, she learned about a recent vacancy her brother would be interested in. Allen did some research and decided she was right. Now, he is enlisted as the MDG’s newest biomedical equipment specialist.

“The job title alone tells me that it’s going to be more mechanically inclined,” said Allen. “I feel like that is something I became exceptional at in the job I had on the active duty side. I am excited to learn how to put those skills to use at a different job and also learn a whole new set of skills that I can apply later in a civilian job.”

Allen will have to attend a technical training school, for about a year and a half, sometime after September. Until then, he will be working at the MDG starting this month. For the first time, Allen and Villafana will be working together.

Villafana first started working at the MDG in 2015, when she became a part of the IDANG family. She is currently working full-time until April, just in time to begin planting and irrigating on the farm she and her husband operate in Wilder, Idaho. They grow sugar beet row crops. She says she appreciates the flexible schedule that comes along with the IDANG, allowing her to farm. This was one of the benefits that originally appealed to her about joining IDANG.

“I wanted to join the National Guard since high school,” said Villafana. “It kind of fell off my radar until after I graduated [college], when Mason joined the active duty Air Force. I started thinking about it more and talking to Mason. He was the one who helped me understand the different ins and outs of the different branches. I knew I wanted to join the Air Force, but I didn’t want to leave Boise.”

Villafana ultimately decided that joining the IDANG was the right choice for her and she’s glad she did. She says she enjoys the tight-knit relationships she has, which she may not have been able to develop, had she joined active duty instead.

Those close relationships and the flexibility with the IDANG, along with a new job opportunity, were ultimately what sold her brother on joining. Allen is looking forward to living closer to his family and continuing his Air Force career as an Idaho Guardsman alongside his sister.

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By Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur 
Idaho Military Division Public Affairs

GOWEN FIELD, Idaho — Spend a day flying with Capt. Mike Shufeldt, one of the Idaho National Guard’s A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots, and feel firsthand what it is like to be an A-10 fighter pilot.

He can smell the strong scent of coffee brewing from the kitchen, as he brushes his teeth. It’s early in the morning, but his dog, Poppy, sits at his heels patiently waiting with a ball in her mouth and tail wagging. Shufeldt grabs his thermos of coffee, throws the ball a couple of times for Poppy, pats her furry head and walks out the door.

The commute across the Treasure Valley isn’t too bad as he heads down the interstate, even with the sun shining in his eyes as it rises above the beautiful Idaho foothills. Shufeldt approaches the main gate of Gowen Field, Boise’s Air Terminal and National Guard Base, with a smile on his face. Today is a good day to fly the mighty A-10 over the nearby Orchard Combat Training Center.

Shufeldt enters the building of the 190th Fighter Squadron and prepares for his day. He gets dressed in his flight G-suit, then his harness for his seat and parachute, and he grabs his high-tech flight helmet. Preparing for his flight and the training mission can take up to two hours. At the operations desk, he listens to his step brief. Today, he is called Bang 11.

The step brief is for him and his wingman, the additional pilot flying the second aircraft on this morning’s training mission. They are briefed on the weather, coordinates, weapons and the close air support mission they are about to fly.

“Bang 11, you are clear to step. Attack,” are the last words said before he heads out to the flight line where his A-10, commonly referred to as a Warthog, is patiently waiting. It is nearing 9 a.m. as he begins the 45-minute preflight check. He walks around his A-10, scanning for any visible issues.

“I do a full preflight inspection on the outside of the jet, to make sure there isn’t anything I see wrong,” said Shufeldt. “Usually there isn’t because our crew chiefs and our maintainers are really good. They are the best, actually.”

He climbs up the ladder and straps into his seat. He and his crew chief turn on the auxiliary power unit and fire up the twin turbine engines. “Clear on one,” said Shufeldt. “Good start on one,” is the response. “Clear on two.” “Two is clear,” is echoed back to him and the two engines are now fired up.

“We check everything, from the brakes to the rudders to the digital systems inside the jet,” said Shufeldt.

Both Warthogs are now ready for flight. “Pull the chalks, see you soon,” said Shufeldt. He disconnects with his crew chief, they salute and he taxis to the runway, stopping near the end to have his A-10’s weapons armed.

The powerful Warthogs line up. Shufeldt is out front. Once cleared for takeoff, he steps firmly on the brakes and runs up the engines. As he eases the throttles forward, the 12-and-a-half-ton beast starts to shake as it reaches nearly 20,000 pounds of thrust.

After checking his gauges and instruments, he pushes the throttles to maximum and releases the brakes. The mighty Warthog gains speed quickly, reaching approximately 150 miles per hour before he pulls back on the stick and the tires leave the runway.

He is up in the air. He takes a deep breath. A moment of calm, but it is short-lived as he begins his in-flight checks and focuses on the mission. He flies toward the target area.

The sun is just above and to the left, the heat from its rays beating down on his neck, the only portion of skin that is exposed.

He can see several dirt roads below in the vast desert and sagebrush-filled land of the OCTC as he approaches the target area near the ground troops below. They are providing ground support while shooting training targets.

“Bang 11 in from the south, guns,” said Shufeldt. “Bang 11, cleared hot,” said the ground troop on the radio below, providing Shufeldt clearance to shoot the 30 mm Gatling gun. “Bang 11, good hits,” is heard after the rounds are fired.

After expending all weapons, he has completed the training mission. Before flying back to Boise, the pilots check each other’s aircraft for any issues. This is called a battle damage check. The A-10s fly wingtip to wingtip, then Shufeldt dips below his wingman’s aircraft and looks up, checking the belly of the A-10. They switch positions and fly back in formation to Gowen Field.

Shufeldt lands, taxis the satisfied Warthog back to the flight line and parks in the same spot in which he started. He reverses the order of the prefight for the shutdown procedures with the crew chief. Once inside, he debriefs the mission with his wingman. It is nearing 1:30 in the afternoon and he is hungry. He warms his lunch, a stir-fry he cooked the night before.

Pilots, like any Airman, have additional military training and duties. He completes these, spends an hour at the gym and heads home.

He walks through the front door with barely enough time to close the door behind him as Poppy jumps up as high as she can, almost knocking him over. Shufeldt is home now after a day in his life as an A-10 fighter pilot.

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