{"id":8553,"date":"2023-05-25T11:34:59","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T16:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/?p=8553"},"modified":"2023-05-25T16:11:46","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T21:11:46","slug":"airman-of-minot-1st-lt-aaron-chen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/2023\/05\/25\/airman-of-minot-1st-lt-aaron-chen\/","title":{"rendered":"Airman of Minot: 1st Lt. Aaron Chen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. —<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) month recognizes and honors the heritage of individuals of AAPI descent.
1st Lt. Aaron Chen, 742nd Missile Squadron Nuclear and Missiles Operations officer, and his mother immigrated from Singapore to a small town in New York. At a young age, Chen wanted to join the Air Force directly out of high school.
\u201cA lot of Asian Americans experience a family pressure to go to college to become a doctor or a lawyer like the stereotype,\u201d Chen explained. \u201cIt is very common but my mom, which I\u2019m grateful for, pushed me to go to college and wanted me to get an education. That\u2019s how I found the ROTC program, and that\u2019s why I commissioned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Chen finds many joys in being an officer including the opportunity to serve and lead Airmen. He hopes to capitalize on the opportunity to highlight struggles AAPI military members face and bring more recognition to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cI\u2019m really grateful for this base and what it has done for AAPI heritage month and the opening ceremonies. It was very nice to see our Wing leadership at the opening ceremony,\u201d said Chen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Although Chen believes Minot Air Force Base is headed in the right direction, he still believes we have a long way to go in the military until all communities are represented equally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Although his job is Nuclear and Missile Operations, he enjoys doing photography and photojournalism in his free time.
\u201cI enjoy it because it builds communities, it empowers others, especially people of color and minorities,\u201d said Chen. \u201cI like telling the stories of people whose voices and struggles aren\u2019t heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n


As his contract comes to an end, Chen has found passion for photojournalism and amplifying the voices of those whose struggles are not usually heard. With this passion he hopes to continue working in the Air Force as a civilian in the Public Affairs career field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cI\u2019m getting out pretty soon, to pursue storytelling and community building,\u201d said Chen. \u201cI would like to empower as many people of color as possible in the Air Force.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
1st Lt. Aaron Chen, Nuclear and Missiles Operations officer, discusses mission planning with his colleagues at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, May 5, 2023. Mission planning is responsible for organizing and going through daily events to ensure all operations run smoothly. U.S. Air Force photos Senior Evan Lichtenhan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
1st Lt. Aaron Chen, Nuclear and Missiles Operations officer, and 1st Lt. Kathryn Mainland, Nuclear and Missiles Operations officer, have a discussion at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, May 5, 2023. A Nuclear and Missiles Operations officer is responsible for controlling and managing nuclear missile operations. U.S. Air Force photos Senior Evan Lichtenhan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. — Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) month recognizes and honors the heritage of individuals of AAPI descent.1st Lt. Aaron Chen, 742nd Missile Squadron Nuclear and Missiles Operations officer, and his mother immigrated from Singapore to a small town in New York. At a young age, Chen wanted to join […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8556,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":193},"categories":[193],"tags":[83,562,52],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8553"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8590,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8553\/revisions\/8590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northernsentry.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}