Veteran Highlight: Dawn Charron

Dawn Charron served for nearly 30 years in the Montana Air National Guard as a Supply Specialist. She retired as a Senior Master Sgt in 2014 and is now an active member of the Lincoln American Legion Post 9.

"I was almost 24 years old when I joined," Charron said, "I joined the Montana Air National Guard because everything I had in my whole life was because of the Montana Air National Guard. My dad joined 25 years and a day before me. I decided I was going to provide for my family the way my dad had provided for all of us."

Charron's dad, Rich Paul, still lives in Lincoln. Charron moved to Lincoln full-time in 1996.

"My mom's folks bought their place here in 1947, and it was a summer place. When we came here full-time, we bought the place next to my mom and dad. We summered and hunting-seasoned here," she said.

From 1996 until 2014, Charron made the 187-mile round-trip to Great Falls every day for work.

"I had the best job and I lived in the best place," she said. "The only thing I miss about being retired is the drive every day. When you do that, you get to see the best sunrises and the best sunsets and the seasons change. Every single day it's different, just by if you're a minute behind schedule or a minute ahead. That's what I miss about working, is the drive to Great Falls and back. Otherwise, this retirement thing-you can't beat it. Being up here is really terrific."

Charron said another benefit of serving in the National Guard was being able to always come home to the same place.

"I went around the world on more than one occasion. I went to Iraq and Kuwait and Japan and Germany, and...as long as it was within the United States, I was able to take my kids with me for a couple weeks at a time. But I was always able to come back home. We never uprooted them," Charron said.

Three generations of Charron's family have served in the National Guard, and she adds that she had family members in the military dating back as far as the Civil War.

"My oldest son is in the Guard now, and he's traveled all over the place. He graduated out of Lincoln in 2006," said Charron. She also has a nephew in the Air National Guard. Her younger sister served in the Air National Guard, as well, and her sister's husband served in the Navy.

As a member of the American Legion, Charron is involved in a lot of the projects that the Legion supports.

"We have better than 60 Legion members in Lincoln Post 9," said Charron. "Our whole thing is to help out our community. We do community projects of different sorts. We help out with skijoring, we help with Race to the Sky. We're a member of the Community Hall and the Chamber."

Members of the Lincoln Post 9 are mostly older retired veterans, Charron notes. "The people that are involved in doing things are all up in years. Now we're at the point where we're trying to recruit younger military members people who haven't retired yet, so that we can get them acclimated and someday we can pass the torch and not worry about it," she said.

Charron adds that for students who want to go to college but don't have the financial means to attend, joining the National Guard can be a valuable option.

"The National Guard, Air or Army, they have tuition assistance and a stipend," said Charron, noting that kids only have to work a weekend a month and 15 days out of the year. "They will pay for them to go to school, and a stipend for books and lodging. They get a degree out of it, and they could get a career out of it. Kids really should think about the Air National Guard as a way to pay for their college. When you deploy with the Guard, most times you deploy because you volunteered, not because they told you you have to go. With active duty, you don't have many choices in the matter."