Remembering where we came from | Events

“With the Fourth of July, we’re celebrating our independence as a nation. It’s the folks that fought back in the Revolutionary War for our country. That is where it all started for us as Americans and our freedom. We have Memorial Day and that’s when we tend to remember our troops that have fallen in conflicts or war, but it all started with the Fourth of July for us,” Sgt. Jason Parker said.

Senior Master Sgt. Parker is the Operations Superintendent for the Security Forces Squadron at Fairchild Air Force Base.

“That freedom was born on the backs of hard working men and women and the blood of those men fighting for this country. And that will continue,” said Sgt. Parker.

And it will continue with Sgt. Parker. He is in charge of security and all law enforcement on the base. When he is deployed his basic mission is ground defense for air bases worldwide.

Aside from protecting our men and women in the armed services, Sgt. Parker has another job. He is a husband and a father. Parker and his wife, Trisha, have been married for 18 years now. To Trisha, sometimes it feels like 100 years and at other times it goes by in a flash.

“On this last deployment to Afghanistan, it probably had the biggest impact on him because our kids had this huge growth spurt and they are teenagers. Our daughter went from being kind of a little girl to a young woman and it was shocking,” Trisha said.

Trisha elaborates on the changes she’s seen in her husband over the years.

“Especially after these deployments, I catch him looking at pictures of our kids when they were little and he's realizing how much he has missed,” said Trisha.

Time spent with loved ones is a sacrifice the men and women in the military make.

“The hardest part I would say is you don’t ever get to rewind the clock for those 8 months I was gone. You can’t say, let’s rewind now that I’m home, let’s do it over,” Sgt. Parker said.

Sgt. Parker gets to enjoy the Fourth of July with his family and is reminded during each deployment why we celebrate this holiday.

“What’s been lost over the decades and centuries is what it took us to establish our freedom. A lot of men fought and died, they gave it their all. We still have men and women doing the same thing today. Giving it their all and some are paying the ultimate sacrifice. So we are able to maintain our way of life that we enjoy and a lot of times take for granted. When you’re born in this country, you have the freedom of choice on everything you do, when you get to travel and see some of these countries and how they live, how they treat each other, it is very eye opening and sobering,” Sgt. Parker said.

The Parkers encourage their friends and family to take a minute and thank Veterans.

“Sometimes you might even get a good story out of it. There are so many untold stories,” said Trisha.

What does the future hold for Sgt. Parker and Trisha?

“It all depends on what happens in the world and where they need my leadership,” said Sgt. Parker. “But I’ll always be the first one to raise my hand.”

“And I would never tell him not to because this is what I know he was born to do,” Trisha said.