UNBREAKABLE

From there she relocated to England to operate a supply warehouse and had additional assignments that took her to Italy, Alabama and, her favorite, Hawaii.

She was then transferred to Germany and put in charge of all the transportation at Spangdahlem Air Base.

Within a year, Sookma was overseeing the critical departments of transportation, planning, supply and maintenance — a “jack of all trades and master of none” kind of position, she explains. “I was glad I had the experience I had because they picked me to stay and run the squadron, which was now twice as big.”

Shortly after she took that position, 9/11 happened and “all hell broke loose,” she says. “But it made me realize how important it was to have all the logistics under one umbrella. The whole world stopped basically, and we were taking care of all those things.”

Her experience in Germany landed her a job at the Pentagon, where she was able to share what she’d learned and help shape logistical procedures in the Air Force.

“That was an eye-opener,” she says. “It was my first tour in D.C., and I enjoyed working in the Pentagon. It was fascinating, and I got to see the bigger picture of the Air Force.”

Of course working in the Pentagon was an experience in and of itself.

“There aren’t any windows in there,” she explains. “It’s like a self-enclosed city underneath the ground. The subway runs right into it, and inside there’s everything you need. Everyone had ‘The Pentagon Look.’ It just drained the life out of people. They’d walk out of the building just look-

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Living and Lending in East Dallas since 2006 ing down, and get straight on the train. Everyone was very stressed.”

She was then sent across the Potomac River to attend the National Defense University, where she studied with experts in the military, CIA and Secret Service.

(She also volunteered to be the school mascot and run around in a tiger suit.

“I couldn’t tell anyone, so all my friends thought I was a nerd who never went to the games because I told them I had to study,” she laughs. “I tried to do fun things because I didn’t want to get so immersed in work that that was all I did.”)

The hard work paid off when she got orders to go to NATO headquarters in Brussels for a three-year tour.

“I learned a lot about how the different countries interact,” she says.

That was also where she achieved her most important bucket list item: she was promoted to colonel in 2008 and pinned in 2009.

Despite a myriad of military duties, she had never been deployed. She volunteered for a tour in Kabul, Afghanistan, where she advised the Afghanistan National Army and Police in how to create and sustain a national logistics system.

“So it was staying within my career field but taking it to another culture,” she says. “So the government put all my stuff into storage in the states, and I took off with my backpack and three duffle bags and headed to Afghanistan. It was fascinating.”

Her time at NATO included an effort to get more helicopters into Afghanistan, and being in Kabul confirmed the need. “I got to see it firsthand,” she says. “It was like a continuation of what I’d been doing, but from a new perspective.”

“always took time to have tea and small talk,” she explains. “We went out every day into the Afghan community and drank tea with them and built up that trust. They’re very nice people.”

Being a female officer in Afghanistan came with its own set of challenges. “There were two things I always had to plan ahead for: bathrooms and my hair,” she says. “They don’t have bathrooms for women, so they would have to set aside a bathroom that I could go into.”

When she got back to the United States a year later, she was in for a pop culture shock.

“It was so third-world country. I don’t know how else to describe it. We’d hear bombs going off in the distance.”

“I just remember Michael Jackson had just died, and it was like there was nothing else going on in the world,” she recalls.

She went back to the National Defense University, but this time to teach. Then last year she was selected for early retirement, so she moved home to Dallas to be close to her family.

“I look at everything as a bunch of little pockets, but faith and family have always been the underlying themes,” she says, as her eyes well up with tears.

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Her time in Afghanistan was the biggest culture shock she experienced during her time in the Air Force. (Yes, even more than Alabama.)

“It was so third-world country,” she says. “I don’t know how else to describe it. We’d hear bombs going off in the distance.”

“It makes me get all teary because it’s been fun. It was hard at first when they told me I had to retire. I was like, ‘I don’t want to retire because I’m having too much fun.’ But at least I have my family to go back to.”

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But she’d learned some valuable lessons while working at NATO about foreign relations that she was able to apply to her work in Kabul. For example, she

Of course she hasn’t slowed down much since being back in Dallas. She’s been volunteering wherever she can, including working with the alumni association at Woodrow Wilson High School as the communications officer.

“Since I’ve come back to Dallas I’ve said I am going to go back and help all the organizations that helped me,” she says.