Taking care of people is taking care of the mission

  • Published
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Türkiye --  

“Doing things that help me better myself and/or better those around me is what fulfills me. There’s always something I can work on or improve within myself and I love being able to find those things and tweak them in an attempt to become the best version of myself.”

U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jasmine Helm-Lucas, 39th Maintenance Squadron noncommissioned officer in charge of weapons maintenance, is motivated to be the example for women that she never had in her career field.

“I want women to see me and know that something they may not have even considered was possible before is indeed attainable,” said Helm-Lucas. “If I can do it, so can you!”

She has come across very few women and even fewer women of color, if any, in her career field as a maintainer over her past nine years in the U.S. Air Force.

“To me, there is something special about being able to look around and see people that look like you,” said Helm-Lucas. “To be able to talk to people that share your experience, be it for motivation, advice or just having someone there that already understands a particular hardship without you having to explain yourself, is priceless.”

Helm-Lucas shares that her hope is that she not only empowers herself, but encourages other women to do the same.

“I show up as me every day,” said Helm-Lucas. “I don’t water myself down, I don’t tolerate nonsense, and I am authentically me at all times.”

Helm-Lucas explained that she looks forward to sharing the knowledge she has gained over the years as well as adding her name to the very short list of women who have made it to the top ranks in her career field.

“My aspiration has always been to take my career as far as I can take it,” said Helm-Lucas. “It was actually my supervisor that inspired me to have that particular aspiration. I have no plans to limit myself; I’ll go as far as I can go,” said Helm-Lucas. “I just know I want to be the best at what I do and I want to help better the ones around me and the ones that come after me.”

She expressed that with rank comes more opportunity to impact people and the mission and she intends to do that to the best of her ability.

“I specifically make attempts to do morale and health and wellness events for my Airmen and younger NCOs to build them up, listen to anything they’d like to share, and impart any knowledge I may have,” said Helm-Lucas.

“I wholeheartedly believe that impacting our people in a positive way will, in turn, impact the mission in a positive way,” said Helm-Lucas. “Taking care of the people is taking care of the mission.