Deployed Couple Eclipses the 100 Combat Mission Milestone

SOUTHWEST ASIA – Staff Sgt.’s Chris and Debbie Villanueva, 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, pose for a photo July 28. The air-refueling couple recently passed the 100 combat missions milestone. They are deployed from McGuire AFB, N.J. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Stephen Linch)

Deployed Couple Eclipses the 100 Combat Mission Milestone

SOUTHWEST ASIA – Staff Sgt. Chris Villanueva, 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, does pre-flight checks before a combat mission July 28. Sergeant Villanueva and his wife, Staff Sergeant Debbie Villanueva, 908th EARS, both recently passed the 100 combat missions milestone. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Stephen Linch)

Deployed Couple Eclipses the 100 Combat Mission Milestone

SOUTHWEST ASIA – Staff Sgt. Chris Villanueva, 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, does pre-flight calculations before a combat mission July 28. Sergeant Villanueva recently passed the 100 combat mission milestone. He is deployed from McGuire AFB, N.J., and hails from Moreno Valley, Calif.(U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Stephen Linch)

Deployed Couple Eclipses the 100 Combat Mission Milestone

Published Aug. 4, 2009
By Senior Airman Stephen Linch
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA -- For flyers in Vietnam, flying one hundred combat missions earned them a badge of honor and a ticket home.

Although it is not their ticket home, Staff Sgt.'s Chris and Debbie Villanueva, 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron, both recently received their badge of honor for flying 100 combat missions as boom operators in the KC-10 Extender.

"I remember when I first deployed and I saw the 100 combat missions patch," said Sergeant Chris Villanueva, a California native. "I wanted to be part of that heritage."

As boom operators, the sergeants sit in the rear of the aircraft and control refueling operations. Boom operator conducted air refueling allows fuel to be transferred at rate more than double that of the alternative hose and drogue method.

While the Villanueva's know how important their job is to extending the range and loiter time of fighters and bombers especially to protect troops in contact, they are in awe of the sacrifice made by the aviators who came before them like the ones who flew during Vietnam.

"I feel honored carrying the tradition on," said Sergeant Debbie Villanueva, a New York native." But, it's not my ticket home, and my sorties are certainly not as dangerous."

The Villanueva's met when the Air Force and their passion for flying brought the couple from opposite ends of the United States to Altus AFB, Okla., for their technical training to become boom operators.

More than two years later Debbie found herself on the jumbotron at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as Chris proposed in front of 35,000 people at a Phillies game.

The couple would soon be working towards the 100 combat missions' milestone together and would travel to every continent except Antarctica between the two of them.

As a married couple with the same high demand job, it has taken commitment and service before self for these two to reach this significant milestone.

"It was our choice to join the military," said Sergeant Debbie Villanueva, a second generation boom operator whose father, Master Sgt. Larry Marks, retired after operating for KC-135's from Griffiss AFB New York. "It's not easy for us, even at home he goes off on a mission, gets back and I go out on a mission.

"They try to give us the same days off, so we can spend more time together," She added.

The couple will soon being going back to their home station, McGuire AFB, N.J., but their third deployment will always stand out as the one where they earned their badges of honor.