Maj. Gen. Stacy Joe Huser stepped to the podium at the Minot Area Chamber/EDC annual meeting as the keynote speaker. Maj. Gen. Huser was once stationed in Minot, and her 30 year journey through the Air Force has landed her at F.E. Warren as Commander of the 20th Air Force.
It would be normal for Huser to talk about national defense, or other similar topics, but tonight by her own admission she entertained the audience of over 250 with her story. “Tonight I am going to talk about myself more than I am comfortable with, but I want to do it so I can illustrate a picture for all of you” Huser shared. Huser started with the statement that “You never go to war with the Army that you want…or the Army you envisioned having.” But Maj Gen Huser was not talking military necessarily, she was also talking about life.
Huser shared that both of her parents were born and raised Amish, and to that she said that it was horse and buggy and no electricity…very typical Amish. Her Mom’s parents actually met and got married in North Dakota. “They had 8 children here in North Dakota, and then my Grandfather decided to go back to Indiana, so he grabbed the oldest child and they traveled by train with most of the family belongings. Then a few months later my Grandma, who was pregnant with my Mom, also traveled by train to Indiana, and that was in January of 1941, so the family was reunited in Indiana. My Grandma had my Mom, and 8 more kids for a total of 17 children.”
Huser’s Mom helped raise her siblings. Huser shared her Mom’s story, and that of an aunt who lived to be 95 and lived on her own and had 8 kids, 46 grandchildren and countless great, and great, great grandchildren.
Stacy Jo moved to Michigan and got married and had no idea that she would enlist in the Air Force. But a friend of hers who was in the Air Force “and he literally just read me his pay stub and I thought, wow. The Air Force was never anything I dreamt of doing, but I needed something, some kind of direction in life. So, I went down to the local recruiter and I was a female with a college degree, and they signed me right up.” Gen Huser shared that her husband of less than a year did not know that she was doing it. “I came home and said, I joined the Air Force” says Huser.
After 4 years Huser said that she loved the mission of the Air Force, but she loved the work even more, “I absolutely love it.”
“My husband and I have been married for over 31 years, I have been in the Air Force for 30 years, we have moved 14 times, we have 2 amazing kids…but I didn’t join the Air Force for any patriotic reason. I have met a lot of people like me who didn’t join for any patriotic reason, but they stayed because they loved the mission.”
Gen Huser pointed out to the audience that more than likely they were like her. “It’s not that my story is super interesting, but I want to remind all of you that you have a reason for what you do, and all of you have a story, and you need to share your stories. Share how you got to where you are, what made you who you are. You need to share your struggles with the people who you work with, to people who you know.”
Huser told the audience that their first Army was their family. Huser also shared another part of her story; how her husband has handled her Air Force journey. “He has been a stay at a home Dad when my job was extremely busy, when my job was less busy he would work. A lot of our Airmen are single parents. Some of them are struggling to be parents” but according to Huser they find a way to make it work.
The second Army for Huser was the Air Force. “We talk to people about your Air Force Family, but that often doesn’t begin until people need their Air Force Family.” Huser shared the story of her daughter who was born at 25 weeks, and weighed only 1 pound, 12 ounces. “She was born 100 days early, and I was working full time, and my husband was working full time. The people that I worked with in the Air Force were so incredible and so supportive and were there for me and helped me” says Huser “we would not have been able to survive that experience had it not been for them. But my Air Force family was there for me, and when they needed me I was there for them.”
Huser also spoke to the fact that there was a lot of times when she was the first woman, or the only women that did what she did. “I shouldn’t be the first. There should have been hundreds that came before me. I shouldn’t be the only, I should be surrounded by women. So, I tried doing things that would bring women into our career field. I wanted women to see that you could be in the Air Force, be a wife and be a Mom.” And from that goal Huser organized and orchestrated an all-woman alert because “we had so many talented women missileers. Not only in Minot but in Great Falls and also in Cheyenne, Wyoming.” And it happened during Women’ History Month.
Her fouth Army, was that of Enterprise, and her final point. ”Find the Army of your brothers and sisters, advocate for them, and make sure that you speak for those who may not have a voice.”
Finishing Huser related that “our mission here at Minot and across Global Strike remains the cornerstone and bedrock of our national security. Maintaining an uninterrupted deterrent remains the most important task in front of us. Every administration supports our enterprise. We need to maintain constant communication, it’s critical to success. And if you ask what you can do if you absolutely want to help, it’s very simple. Keep building relationships and keep loving our Airmen and their families. Here at Minot, you set an example for the rest of the country. You show others what pride looks like. They want to be like you. They want to be like you because they see you making a difference, not necessarily just here locally, but across our nation. So, keep that up and from me personally, thank you guys for everything you do. You absolutely make a difference for our Airmen and our mission.”
