JBER spouse takes Air Force honors for selfless service and leadership

  • Published
  • By Air Force 1st Lt. Matthew Chism
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Sarah Greenlee has been named the winner of the 2011 Joan Orr Air Force Spouse of the Year Award.

The Joan Orr Spouse of the Year Award honors significant contributions made by spouses of a military member to the United States Air Force.

After competing against other spouses from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Pacific Command, and the Air Force, Sarah Greenlee was chosen as the best in the Air Force for her dedication to service at JBER and the surrounding community.

Her citation for the award noted, through volunteer work, counseling, teaching and leadership, Mrs. Greenlee has supported people from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the local schools' Parent Teacher Association, church and the local community.

"The movers were at our house here on base. I looked out the window and they were just loading up the last couple boxes. I looked out the window and I thought, "Hmmm, that's kind of strange, two cars pulled up and it's the wing commander, the vice wing commander, the ops group commander and [Lt. Col. James Suhr, 3rd Operations Support Squadron Commander],"' she said.

"I just thought, "Well they see the moving trucks and they just came to tell Paul goodbye, hey thanks it's been good knowing you"...then Lt. Col. Suhr said "Hey, we just all wanted to come and congratulate you, all of us together and let you know that you were selected as the Air Force winner of the Joan Orr award." I was just so shocked, and honored and humbled," said Sarah Greenlee.

Greenlee, a woman driven by faith, acknowledged volunteering is sometimes a tough commitment with her family of five.

"Everything that we seek to do, we seek to do it as much as possible as a family," she said.

That same commitment to family is the advice she gives to other spouses who want to get involved.

"First of all, support their service member," Mrs. Greenlee said. "After that, support your unit at the company or squadron level," she continued. "I would encourage them to be involved in their unit and to be supportive. To realize that each of us has something important to give, and to have a willingness in our heart to give it."

Living her words, Mrs. Greenlee worked extensively between the 3rd OSS and the 517th Airlift Squadron, where her husband, Lt. Col. Paul Greenlee, former 3rd OSS Director of Operations, worked.

"She sees a need and her instinct is to go help; it's just part of her nature," Lt. Col. Greenlee said. The Greenlee family is currently transitioning to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, where Lt. Col Greenlee will work with the 15th Wing Inspector General.
"With the C-17 incident for instance, I had to go to work because of my position...I come home at 2:00 in the morning and there was extra children in my house," he said.
Sarah Greenlee had taken in the children of the commanders for the night to relieve the burden on them, so that the commanders and their spouses could focus on being there for the families involved in the incident.

"They needed to go and reach out to the families and be with them until they came to some closure. She didn't think twice about it," Lt. Col. Greenlee said.
That internal passion is second nature for Mrs. Greenlee.

"It's been easy to care, it's who I am," she said.

Mrs. Greenlee, who calls San Antonio home, moved extensively in the U.S. and Europe with her family throughout her father's career.

She followed in Senior Master Sgt. Charles Jamison's footsteps and served for four years in the Air Force as a social worker at Wilford Hall Medical Center San Antonio, Texas and Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.

"I think [service has] always been a part of me," Sarah Greenlee said. "You know, as long I can look back on my life I have always had within me a very caring, compassionate, merciful nature."

"I feel very honored, I feel very privileged, to have worked with such outstanding people every day, side by side," Greenlee said.

"What I see happening here at JBER is tremendous unity," Sarah Greenlee said. "People coming together with common focus, with a common mission and it's very inspirational. It has just been a joy for me to be a part of that."

The Joan Orr Award, which is sponsored by the Air Force Association, is scheduled to be presented to Mrs. Greenlee by the Secretary of the Air Force, Michael B. Donley, in Washington, D.C. at the AFA Conference.