As a Dutch native, Paulina Huffman never pictured herself as a member of the United States military. Though her interest in serving began while she was in high school, she assumed her citizenship status would bar her ability to join.
A conversation during dinner with a friend radically changed Huffman’s career path. Huffman and her husband took a recruiter out to dinner to thank him for his help in getting her husband reenlisted. The recruiter said that Huffman should consider enlisting, but she was under the impression that her lack of citizenship would be an issue.
“He said that didn't matter. We didn't know I was able to enlist with a green card,” Huffman said.
Huffman enlisted shortly afterward and served in the active-duty Air Force from 1986 to 1987.
“In ‘86, I remember I was the first one being yelled at in basic training because I didn't quite understand what they were saying. I had responded to what I thought I'd heard, and it was the wrong thing to say,” Huffman said.
She began her training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and then transferred to Sheppard Air Force Base to complete medical training. After completing training, she was assigned to the medical records section at Tinker Air Force Base.
“I was happy to be in administration. When I went in, I went in as open general, so I could have ended up anywhere as a cook or anywhere else. That was really my fear. I had been working in fast food, and I joined the military to get out of that. I was happy to find that they put me in medical and that's what my strengths were,” Huffman said.
In 1987, Huffman became pregnant and took a separation from the military to raise her kids. Since she wouldn’t be stationed with her husband, she decided to stay home and work outside of the military. Years later, however, Huffman found herself drawn to the military once again and joined the Indiana National Guard in 1998.
“I just felt like I wasn't going anywhere with the jobs I was having. I wanted to join the service again but on a part-time basis, so I joined the Indiana Army National Guard. They were the most accommodating and took me in. I stayed there through 2018, so almost 20 years, and I'm now retired from that. It's been really good to me. I’ve given a lot, but I’ve also received a lot,” Huffman said.
During her time with the National Guard, Huffman was deployed twice. She spent a year in Iraq as the admin Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) for a transportation company and then spent nine months in Kuwait with an aviation company.
Huffman reminisced on a particularly funny memory during her time in Iraq. She often carried a distinctive purple comb in her back pocket. During a trip to retrieve mail, she stopped to use a port-a-potty and the comb fell into the toilet.
“I was like, ‘Oh, well that's a shame. That was my favorite comb, but life goes on,’” Huffman said.
On another trip to the mail facility a few days later, Huffman saw the comb sitting on the ground. She’s still not sure how it got there, but she had no interest in figuring it out.
“My mom had been saying all along to never pick anything up from the ground because you never know where it’s been. That was very, very true,” Huffman said.
Though Huffman generally enjoyed her time in the military, her deployment to Kuwait was mentally challenging. To stay positive, she kept herself as busy as possible. One of her most notable accomplishments was completing 25 5K runs in a span of nine months.
“I just kept myself really busy,” Huffman said. “Especially in Kuwait. This was my second time being deployed, and I really wasn't looking forward to being separated from my family and everything. I ended up taking several college classes there and I ran 25 5Ks in that timeframe. I created art out of the “Stars and Stripes” newspaper that came every day, and I would create collages. One of them had summary sayings with children in it, and one with all animals in it, and one was beautiful landscapes. That was fun for me. I volunteered at a USO that was there in the camp, I did karaoke, and then occasionally, when there were movies, I would go watch a movie.”
Joining the military helped Huffman find a career path that would have been otherwise unattainable. She currently works full-time at the Porter County Veterans Services Office and feels the job is perfect for her.
“It's really just opened up a whole new life for me. The job I currently have is just tailor-made for me. I feel like everything I've done has all led up to this job. It’s the customer service that I did in the fast-food jobs and the administration and everything just kind of came to fruition and just led me to this job where I use all that,” Huffman said.