An official website of the United States government
A .mil website belongs to an official U.S. Department of Defense organization in the United States.
A lock (lock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .mil website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

A Rock Solid Warrior: Master Sgt. Chad Gurnon

  • Published
  • By Public Affairs staff
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing
SOUTHWEST ASIA --  This week's Rock Solid Warrior is Master Sgt. Chad Gurnon.  Gurnon is a loadmaster with the 737th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron.  The North Kingstown R.I. native is deployed from the 143rd Airlift Squadron, Rhode Island Air National Guard. 

In his own words:

Q:  What is your family's military heritage:
A:  My little brother was deployed here with me doing the same job.

Q: What is your mission here?
A:  I feel that we are building partnerships through our airlift.

Q:  What are some of the best parts of your mission?
A:  Meeting different people on missions and talking to them is one of the best parts. I enjoy working with some of the new people in our unit and getting to know them.

Q:  What are some of the challenges you face while conducting your mission, and how do you overcome them?
A:  There are no challenges! "No" is not in my vocabulary!

Q:  How does your job differ in a deployed environment vs. home base?
A:  While at home I do mostly training or evaluation flights.  The great part about over here is I just get to fly!

Q:  How many times have you deployed?
A:  This is my 15th deployment to the AOR.

Q:  What makes this deployment unique?
A:  This is the best base I have been at out of the five I have been stationed at since 2002.

Q:  Why did you join the Air Force?
A:  I really did not want to go to college and my grandfather was in Navy, I had 2 uncles in the Army. They all told me join the Air Force.

(The Rock Solid Warrior is a weekly spotlight focused on an outstanding member of the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. These unsung heroes have been nominated by their unit leadership to be recognized for their efforts while deployed.)