Another coincidence: This time about our last post concerning USAF Fighter Pilot Captain Melaine “First” Valentin, the Daedalian Society’s Top Leadership awardee of the September 2022 314th Fighter Squadron Graduating Class at Holloman AFB, NM.
Considering the size of the USAF, as an amazing coincidence, almost simultaneously, just as we posted her story, the Air Force Academy‘s prestigious Quarterly Magazine for its Alumni Organization, CHECKPOINTS, also printed a parallel feature story about “First” Valentin.
Here, below, is the cover of that issue: (We found out about this coincidence from Col. Alan Fisher, an AF Academy graduate and regular reader of CHECKPOINTS, who excitedly informed your webmaster, that “FIRST” had also just been featured in a distinguished graduate story the same month she was awarded the top LEADER award in her graduating Fighter Class at Holloman. When the Academy CHECKPOINTS staff wrote the article, they didn’t know anything about Captain Valentin’s Leadership award ceremony – nor did we know about their story.
Cover of September 2022 CHECKPOINTS – photo of Cadet 3rd Class Lydia Cella in Combat Survival Training Program
Through the good efforts of two Air Force Academy fellow graduates and long-time FASF members, Alan Fisher and Wes Baker, we were led to the magazine’s Managing Editor, Jeff Holmquist, who gave us the OK to reprint their “First” story. Without further ado, here it is:
[TO VIEW THIS PDF COPY SIMPLY EITHER USE THE “+” SIGN IN THE TOOLBOX AT THE BOTTOM OF THE VIEW YOU SEE OR CLICK ON THE SMALL POPOUT ICON (
Now let’s look at a short (3:57) video of “First,” one also produced by “CHECKPOINTS” and get a look at how Captain Valentin uses her non-pilot-oriented artistic talents:
[NOTE: Suggest you click on the “Full Screen” mode button at the lower right of the video for the best high-resolution viewing experience.]
