Oral History Interview with Claire Lederhaus

[Interview Begins]

SPRAGUE: Today is October 6th, 2023. This is an interview with Claire Leader House, who served in the Wisconsin Air National Guard from December 14th, 1984 to September 1st, 2008. This interview is being conducted by Luke Sprague at the Veterans Home for the Wisconsin Veterans Museum Oral History Program. No one else is present in the interview room. Okay, Claire. Good morning.

LEDERHAUS: Good morning. Luke.

SPRAGUE: Where did you grow up?

LEDERHAUS: I grew up on the south side of Milwaukee on 21st and Mitchell Street.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And what did your family do?

LEDERHAUS: My mother was a homemaker. And when we were old enough and went to school, she worked for MPs in the, lunchroom. And my dad was in the Wisconsin Air National Guard part time. He was a full time supervisor with the Milwaukee County Parks, and he also had a part time job selling fencing for Sears.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And says.

LEDERHAUS: Milwaukee public.

SPRAGUE: Schools. Okay. Just to be clear. And where did you go to school growing up on the south side.

LEDERHAUS: I went to Saint Vincent de Paul, which was a private elementary school for kindergarten through eighth grade.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And, how about high school?

LEDERHAUS: High school? I went to Milwaukee Tech and trade. I attended the freshman year, the exploratory shop, and then chose chemistry as my certificate along with my graduation.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So in one of your other interviews, you talk about, you then did you go on to college immediately or what did you do next after graduating?

LEDERHAUS: I did immediately go to college. I went to UW, for one year, just taking general ed courses. And then I decided that I wanted to go to Matc to go through their radiology technology classes. So I did that for one year. But when I started to do the, hospital part of it, I ended up, just getting queasy and not really being a candidate for that type of position. Academically. I passed everything, but I just decided that that wasn't my career field. When they started doing vena grams and blood spurting out and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 Yikes.

SPRAGUE: So, what happened next?

LEDERHAUS: I worked part time. I went to school part part time, still to Matc, and I did that for about a year. And then I decided to join the Wisconsin Air National Guard. My father was my recruiter. He was already in the Air National Guard. And he had been trying to, you know, get me to enlist as well. So as the years progressed, I got to see his development of friendships, plus the amount of training that he was taking and being in school. It just thought I just thought it was a good transition point to join the Air National Guard and get some specialized training. So he had a lot of friends, which became like our family members. We called them uncle. And it just really inspired me to join the Air National Guard. And seeing how he developed so well and enjoyed his friends.

SPRAGUE: So. And your father's name was Thomas Napper.

LEDERHAUS: Ella.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And, when he retired from the National Guard, he was what rank?

LEDERHAUS: He was, chief master sergeant, okay, with the Air National Guard.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Tell me a little bit about more about. About that connection, that connectivity with the like a second family with the National Guard, if you could, please.

LEDERHAUS: Sure. One of my uncles, my mom's brother, William Kurt Chesky, was a paratrooper. And then another uncle of mine, Thomas Kurt Chesky was a marine. And, of course, my dad was in. And then two people that I also call the uncle were in civil engineering with my dad and my sister, joined the Air National Guard right after me. So as soon as I left for basic training, Angela enlisted in, April of 1985.

SPRAGUE: If. Do you think that community was, central to you deciding to join that?

LEDERHAUS: Yes, that was definitely my connection. Was seeing my family in uniform and just being inspired by the work that they were doing and the skills that they were attaining by attending drills and conferences and being able to travel as well.

SPRAGUE: So I have to ask, was there ever a consideration of, just entering on active duty, or was it always the Wisconsin National Guard?

LEDERHAUS: I think I felt a source of comfort with being in the Air National Guard. It was the local unit that was close to my home. I was familiar due to family days and attending stuff with my dad. You know, the airplane, the KC one 35 hour, the dynamic on the base. You know, I had been there so many times that it just seemed like a good fit for me.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Yeah. And tell me a little bit about why your sister joined after you. Any particular reason or just the timing of it? Or maybe an influence from you?

LEDERHAUS: I think I was a bit of an influence on her as well as my father, of course. And I think she liked how good I looked in my uniform. Honestly, that, she's like, I want to do that, too. Especially when I graduated from basic training. So.

SPRAGUE: Did your, I have to ask, did. Were you lucky enough to have your family attend your basic training? Graduation?

LEDERHAUS: No, they did not attend.

SPRAGUE: Okay, great.

LEDERHAUS: I have an older brother and three younger sisters and two parents. That worked a lot. So unfortunately, they were not able to attend.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So you go through basic training? I was like, April of 85, maybe roughly. Does that sound about right?

LEDERHAUS: Yes.

SPRAGUE: Okay. What do you remember about your arrival at basic training?

LEDERHAUS: Oh, my gosh, it was, horrible. The TI. I just started yelling, calling us all females and asking us to, get off the bus. And then we consistently were told to pick them up and put them down with their luggage, and, it was just horrible, you know, take off your earrings, put your hair up. We're going to have you fill out a, postcard to send home to your parents. And we were all under the, idea that maybe we got a phone call. But at the time, we just did the postcard letting them know we arrived safely. So it was kind of traumatic and, a bit extreme from what I remember. I established a connection with, a person from New York. Her name was, Fiona Fosbury. And we became best buddies through basic training, along with a couple other garden reservists who were in my flight. So her and I stuck together as partners.

SPRAGUE: Do you keep in touch with her?

LEDERHAUS: I did, for many years, at least 15 years. And then she decided not to make the guard her career and remarried, moved, and I lost track of her.

SPRAGUE: So when you went to basic, did you come with any guard members from Wisconsin or was it just you by yourself?

LEDERHAUS: It was just me by myself.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: You have to remember, at that time, there weren't that many women enlisting in the Air National Guard. So I would say for every woman, there was at least 100 men at our unit at the time when I enlisted.

SPRAGUE: Wow.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Or any of your 20s, women or females or were they all men?

LEDERHAUS: I did have a female to. For our flight. Her last name was Pure Ski, and she was about, four foot ten. Just a Spitfire, but a really good inspiration to all of us. And most of the other ones. Were all men.

SPRAGUE: Do you think your family prepared you for what was going to happen at basic, given their military experience today?

LEDERHAUS: No, not at all.

SPRAGUE: I didn't say.

LEDERHAUS: That.

Speaker 3 All. No.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: I enlisted and then pretty much left three months later. So it wasn't a lot of prep time.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. Was the, unit both male and females, or was it just females in the unit?

LEDERHAUS: Just females in my unit.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And what was, were there other people there from around the country that you got to know? And.

LEDERHAUS: Yes, of course. All from within the United States, but different states. So did you want me to move here?

SPRAGUE: No. You're fine.

LEDERHAUS: You're okay.

SPRAGUE: You're fine. It's my. My bad. Okay. And what was that like, coming from Wisconsin and and running into all these people from all over? What was that like for you?

LEDERHAUS: It was a bit, overwhelming just because when I enlisted, I was, 20 years old. And there were other females there that were only 17 years old. So technically, I was one of the older enlistees, not the oldest, but one of the older ones. And it was a culmination of just a lot of drama within the first couple of days. We did have one person that did try to commit suicide within the flight on the first or second day. So that was traumatic to experience that within our group. So, we did lose a few people. Not, of course, to death, but just deciding this wasn't for them right away. So I knew it was pretty much mind over matter. So I just, tried to block a lot of these things out at the time and think positive.

SPRAGUE: And, did you encounter any, sexual harassment while you were there?

LEDERHAUS: No, I didn't.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Oh, okay. Were there any other. When you think back on basic, were there any experiences that, stick out in your head?

LEDERHAUS: Sure. There was, one of my flight members who was sick, and I was asked by the to to escort her to a call. So I left and got on the bus and accompanied her to make sure she was okay. Well, when I reentered the flight, I was put up against the wall by a male to who I could actually feel the spit coming out of his mouth. You know, he was this far from my face and he was didn't know where I was. So I got full wrath before I was given the, chance to speak. So that was that was tough. But I knew in my heart that I did the right thing by taking my fellow airman who was sick to where she needed to be for care. So I kept that in in mind at the time.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Anything else you'd like to tell us about basic?

LEDERHAUS: It was just, in a way, a bittersweet time in my career to get to know, you know, women one on one and work through all of the things that we had to do as a team. You know, you're only as strong as your weakest link. So we did have people that would fall behind on the run. You know, especially when we started to do it formation. So we just got this camaraderie and spirit going. And this spirit decor was really good within my group. And we helped each other out, you know, through thick and thin. Went to sleep, you know, wearing my t shirt and socks. Knowing that when you know the call was in the morning, I just had to put on my pants and my boots and get down for a roll call. We had five minutes to get there, so it was just a matter of, prepping ourselves for these things.

SPRAGUE: And where was your basic and.

LEDERHAUS: Was that Lackland Air Force Base?

SPRAGUE: Okay. Do you happen to remember the flight by chance, the student flight number or not?

LEDERHAUS: I do have my picture of our entire flight in the other room.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: So cool. I can share that with you. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Okay. So moving on. I assume you went to advanced training immediately after basic or not? Did you come back here?

LEDERHAUS: I came back to the 128th and I had on the job training. I did have two years of college, so I came in as the E-3 airman first class, and I did have administrative background, and I was going into admin. So what I did was on the job training on the base to supplement my basic training for my initial active duty for training days. So I did like 90 days, three months of active duty for training on base.

SPRAGUE: Is that a pretty common thing that people do in the guard? Is it? Help me out with that.

LEDERHAUS: I think it's basically, based on your test scores and your background. The fact that I had a couple of years of college. It's kind of like a decision that your immediate supervisor needs to make. Who's going to have you as a part of their group? So I don't want to say it was a waiver because it wasn't a waiver. It was just an administrative decision.

SPRAGUE: So so, then later in 85, did you go back for training, advanced training, or when did you go to, advanced training or more training in your in your trade or in your specialty?

LEDERHAUS: Well, I had, correspondence courses and also training that we had to do on the job to get certified. Okay. So it was task orientated and also, in, you know, reading the books and passing all of the exams.

SPRAGUE: Got it.

LEDERHAUS: So I got my three skill level and my five skill level. Then I applied for a full time human resource position and was selected in 1988. So I became a full time civil service technician during the week. And then I was what they call a dual status airman. And on the weekends I was a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. I wore my uniform every day of the week. And participated as a military member, but in a federal status during the week. So I had to retrain into the h.r. Career field. And again for human resources. It was up to the hiring official at the time. If I should go to a formal tech school or do the correspondence courses on the base along with the training, and that's what that's what I ended up to do. I was put on another active duty tour to complete, my three skill level.

SPRAGUE: And what the three skill? What does the three mean? Sorry.

LEDERHAUS: Okay, so the beginning is a one level and then the correspondence courses and the on the job training. If you pass the test you attain the three skill level. So it's like the introductory course into the career field.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And to back up just a smidgen. Sure. And then we'll go ahead. When you completed your training, correspondence on the job, OJT, correspondence, in the Air Force at that time before you went to H.R. Were you, administrative specialist? Is that what they call it, or was it something else?

LEDERHAUS: Yes. Administrate. Administrate? I can't say it. Administrative specialist.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Yes. But then. And then in 88, you got your dual status. Correct?

LEDERHAUS: Correct?

SPRAGUE: Yeah. So I've heard about this dual status before. And I've got a lot of questions. I'm curious about.

LEDERHAUS: It. Okay, so if you.

SPRAGUE: Can help me out with it. Of course. Be very appreciative. Sure. How? Dumb question. How did you find out about the position that was open? Just out of curiosity.

LEDERHAUS: Sure. It was posted. And anybody could see it. However, in order to apply, you needed to be eligible or already be a member of the Air National Guard. So somebody from another state could apply. Or somebody that was going through the recruiting process, could apply as well.

SPRAGUE: So then after 88 you then shifted, you went to the air field both in federal status and on the military side. Correct. Correct. If I understand you correctly, that is correct. Okay. I'm curious. And this is another dumb question. Why wouldn't have the Air Force just said we're going to put an active duty airman in that position full time versus guardsmen and a federal service employee. Why? What's, trying to understand that?

LEDERHAUS: Okay, so every base is allotted so many by the Air Force. So active guard reserve was ultimately the best position to have because you were 24 over seven active duty, but you were home stationed at the base. Now, the federal civil service technician, I was fers, for my retirement system when I was hired. You're basically then federal, which means you could transition your career into another federal position or agency. In that status. And there are allowed so many technicians, so many active guard reservists, and then so many traditional guardsmen. And I believe our unit had about a thousand assigned out of that 1000 guardsmen. There were 260 that were technicians. And maybe at that time I'm going to say 65 active guard reservists.

SPRAGUE: Wow. So that's a smaller group very much. Okay.

LEDERHAUS: The tables of turn nowadays they're transitioning more and more of the positions to the active guard reservists. Versus the federal civil service technicians.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And. Why did you? Was there a particular reason why you chose to shift from administrative to the HR field?

LEDERHAUS: Well, being in nature, you get to meet everyone you know. You see them when they enlist. You see that when they retire. Re-enlist. Customer service. It just was an intriguing and exciting with a lot of different elements to it that I decided to apply. However, there were other people that were already in personnel that applied and they selected me over them. So I was very surprised at the time and excited that I was selected.

SPRAGUE: So it sounds like it was very competitive.

LEDERHAUS: Yes. It was.

SPRAGUE: Okay. In human resources. Tell me, what are something that people don't know about what you would do in that role in that position? And of course, there's going to be many positions over time. But what's one thing that you would identify that nobody realizes that you guys do?

LEDERHAUS: Well, the one thing I would say that's super important to everyone's career is the execution of the form 214, which is a statement of service for active duty. So during Desert Storm and Desert Shield, I was in a position where I needed to do DD form two Fourteens subsequently, then did two fifteens to amend the two fourteens, and we were rolling them up in a typewriter where there were eight carbon copies so critical to the airman's career and their benefits. So I always, really with every job that I did within H.R was very important. However, when I was doing the Desert Storm Desert Shield, specifically, statement of service meant a lot of benefits to a lot of people at the time. So to me, that was the most critical thing that I did, along with the servicemen's group Life Insurance. So you're talking about families. You're talking again about benefits. You know what happens if somebody dies and you're also talking about a payroll transaction that's associated with the airman selection. So, servicemen's group life insurance was also very important.

SPRAGUE: You had, you're talking about, Desert Storm, Desert Shield and Ddr2 for Fourteens. What, when did you. What happened? When when you were. I assume you were in the unit at that time?

LEDERHAUS: Yes, I was, yeah.

SPRAGUE: Still with the with the hundred and 28th. How did that go down? I mean, in terms of mobilization, in terms of the sequence there?

LEDERHAUS: Okay, so that was in, December of 1990 is when our base was basically tasked by the Air Force, and they send out like a package. We need so many pilots. We need so many airplanes, so many services, personnel maintenance, security was really hit hard. And these were my friends. These were people I knew, that I had to check their servicemen's group, life insurance, their dog tags to make sure they were correct. We were processing them through a deployment line. They had orders and, ID cards that were created for them specifically for that time frame. And it was really, really hard to do. My sister was one of those people. She was deployed and activated to Wichita Air Force Base. I mean, McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, where she was activated, along with, also seven other services people. They covered morale well for recreation and also filled in for the food service people that were activated to go elsewhere to the area of responsibility during Desert Shield and Desert Storm. So it was, really hard for me and really personal and. Yeah, I, was scared for all of them when that happened. So.

SPRAGUE: What? In support of Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield. What were some of the other tasks that you had to do?

LEDERHAUS: Okay. Well, due to the nature of the operation, obviously we couldn't discuss anything with anyone because it was classified. So being in H.R., I feel we knew more than some of our other, Air Force specialty codes within the unit. The things that I was tasked to do were some of the things I mentioned and the deployment line, but I also was the one doing the all the data fourteens what the base did, as a service to all the airmen assigned was they activated everyone, all thousand personnel. And the reason they did this was so that they could be afforded the Desert Shield Desert Storm. Ribbon or decoration. And then also the benefits that were associated with the contingency. At the time we didn't know what they would be. But as time went on and the operation continued, that I support I served in support of Desert Shield and Desert Storm was what was on there. De 2014 became the key element for a lot of benefits. And then of the airmen served in the area of responsibility. They had another statement put on their 2014, which was critical to their pay because they were paid a higher rate of pay for serving in the area for responsibility. So that was all very, you know, technical and mass numbers and a lot of paperwork. We worked as a team and a lot of people were activated to include human resources personnel and myself to make this happen at the 128 during that contingency.

SPRAGUE: So, at the time, were you, a tech sergeant or. Sorry, about what rank were you at that time? Just curious.

LEDERHAUS: Okay. I believe at the time I would have been, a staff sergeant.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: Okay. And then a tech sergeant, probably later on. Later on. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Your activation. What did that, mean for you, logistically? Were you here? Did you go somewhere? What? Help me out with God. Sure. Straight me out on that.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. Well, I did not go anywhere but the base, so all of the data that we needed was at the base, and all the orders were executed at the base. I did not leave the base while I was activated. I was.

SPRAGUE: Home. Okay.

LEDERHAUS: Station. Okay. Yes.

SPRAGUE: Does that mean dumb question? You were restricted to staying on base, or you could drive outside the perimeter.

LEDERHAUS: I could drive outside the perimeter.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Just curious because.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah, that's a good point. No. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Were there any difficult situations that you had to deal with during Desert Storm, Desert Shield, or were there a number of them?

LEDERHAUS: Well, just from an, HR standpoint, you know, with everybody being different statuses, sometimes it reflected on how you accomplished their paperwork. You know, we got people that did get hurt and sent back home and a lot of changes to orders due to that. Yeah. It was, it was a lot of long days. It was, you know, seeing families, separated. So there was a lot of emphasis put on the family program at the time, which I became a member of. So we connected with the families, we sent birthday cards and had, you know, even people who would go to their homes that were handy type people from civil engineering or maintenance to actually help some of the families with things that happened at their homes. They would contact us for help.

SPRAGUE: How how critical do you think that that family structure is to supporting airmen?

LEDERHAUS: Oh, it was it was so important, you know, and to be there when everybody came home, they all came home in increments depending on, you know, what area of responsibility they were in and what their specialty code was. I would say security, maintenance services and the pilots, the flight crews were activated the most.

SPRAGUE: So and in your role in air at the time, as as the Army would call Army would call it a junior NCO. Did you work or did you start having airmen that you mentored or trained, or was that coming along or how did that work?

LEDERHAUS: Yes, of course. You know, as you go up in rank, it's automatic, you know, and we would teach classes on how to do things and work with the airmen that were being activated to help with all the paperwork and tasks assigned. You know, I learned to be very diverse. You know, I could make dog tags, I could do servicemen's group life insurance, you know, promotions, awards and decorations. You get to be good at everything because you have to be in order to keep up with the demand of everything at the time. So it was exciting, but yet it was also, you know, very busy within human resources.

SPRAGUE: Did you have any particular, senior NCOs or other people who mentored you?

LEDERHAUS: I did.

SPRAGUE: I did. Would you like to share any of their names or mention them or.

LEDERHAUS: Of course, yes. My supervisor at the time was, Chief Peter Schaefer. He was the one who looked at all the data fourteens that I completed. And he was, intimidating and very strict. So I knew when I put something on his desk that it had to be correct. Otherwise I would, you know, get chewed out up and down. So it was a tight ship that he ran. Then Randy, later House, who, you know, subsequently became my husband. He was also a mentor to me because he already had 4 or 5 years of service in h.r. By the time I joined in. So he was a trainer of mine and very good at his job. Ralph Bergen's was the data processing analyst at the time, and I worked with him just requesting special spreadsheets. And he was also, well, he was a senior master sergeant at the time. Ralph Bergen's. So I he was a go to guy for whatever you needed. Customized. He would make it for you with the data. So he was a good coworker. And then training was Senior Master Sergeant Dennis Reason. I called him my dad within the unit and he called me his daughter. I worked with him on all of the training skill levels of everyone that I was working with for training on correspondence courses and also on the job training. We had to sign a people off on skill tasks, so he was my mentor in that area as well.

SPRAGUE: Do you feel that, these mentors, prepared you and later gave you models for later mentoring people of your own?

LEDERHAUS: Yes. Of course.

SPRAGUE: Yeah.

LEDERHAUS: They were all super fantastic, you know, professionals with exceptional technical knowledge of their areas of expertise. And I trusted them wholeheartedly. But they also expected me to look everything up in the Air Force instructions, in the manuals, in black and white. And that's the best way to learn to reference everything. So you know you're doing precisely what you're supposed to be doing.

SPRAGUE: Anything else, about the, Desert Storm Desert Shield that you'd like to cover?

LEDERHAUS: Well, just from a personal standpoint, I missed my sister. I went to McConnell Air Force Base and visited her with my family. She was activated for a year. However, while she was there, she became really good friends with another airman and kind of fell in love with, a man who was assigned to McConnell. So she lived there for four years total and missed her, and she ended up coming back to the 128th. And she subsequently was hired full time, as well as a as a technician and air technician. So.

SPRAGUE: Okay, here at Hera, here in Milwaukee.

LEDERHAUS: Here in Milwaukee then. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So, moving ahead. Could you tell me at all a little bit about someone in the after Desert Storm, some of the missions that you supported, if you remember, in the early 90s? No chance.

LEDERHAUS: Well, Desert Shield and Desert Storm, you know, covered a long period of time, right? And after that, there were smaller missions. I moved on in my career. I actually became like the. And I had another Air Force specialty code. In 1999, I went to. Jeez, what's it called? I can't even remember the name of the base.

SPRAGUE: Was it a call up? Somewhere to go or.

LEDERHAUS: It was the, data system analyst. The human resource information system manager, which at the time was a separate, separate Air Force specialty code. So again, I was I applied for the position, I was selected. I was activated to active duty to go to the technical school in Missouri, where I attended school for three months in July and August and September. So it was like a oven down there. But, I became the Human Resource Information Systems manager full time. So within my career field now, this would be my third Air Force specialty code that I attained.

SPRAGUE: And, I'm assuming specialty code means like, like an MLS.

LEDERHAUS: Correct.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Yeah, I'm trying to translate, I think.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. Sorry.

SPRAGUE: No, no. That's good. I should know that. Okay. So just out of curiosity, before we get up, get up to, 99, we'll back up just a smidge. Okay. I'll just ask you a couple of questions, and some of them, if you know something about. Great. If you don't.

LEDERHAUS: Oh. That's okay. I do, I do know another date that was in between there.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: December 10th of 1993, a tragedy occurred out on the flight line. There were six airmen within, KC 135, and the plane exploded due to a malfunctioning fuel pump. So six airmen were killed instantly in the explosion. I was there on that day. I was walking down the hall in the main administrative building with one of my coworkers, who was a master sergeant, Ellen G. Ash, and we saw the burst of flames through the glass doors. We felt the building shake and the windows rattle. I know some windows were blown out. Ellen, who was higher in rank than me, went directly into the commander's staff room where, commander's staff meeting was taking place. And this was that like 0706 in the morning. And we just started working. The staff meeting started at seven, and she said, Colonel Schmitz Eugene Schmitz was the commander of the 128th on that day. She said there's fire on the flight line. So he immediately came out and. Found out, you know, obviously what had happened and everybody knew. You know, just like, nine, 11. I remember exactly what I was doing. So the first course of action that I know of what happened was one of the pilots took his life in his own hands and moved the next KC 135 that was parked next to that one out of the succession of how they parked the planes right next to each other. This action saved the Air Force a lot of money because it eliminated more damage to the aircraft, and it also eliminated the possibility of losing more airmen. Then the commander asked everyone you know in an emergency state to board busses, and we were transferred over to civil engineering, which was the furthest most building from where the flight line was. And again, this was to minimize any more fatalities, to get everyone far away from the flames as possible. Of course, the, military, and federal and the air, the firefighters from everywhere came and douse the flames, you know, of the aircraft. I'll never forget that day because there was so much loss, you know, to the 1/28, I knew every single one of the six men that were in the plane at the time. And, it was so close to Christmas for those families. It was, you know, then the dissent of the media, you know, took place within hours and the whole base just became, you know, like, like a tragedy site, you know, with the caution. And people weren't allowed in certain areas. The families had to be notified and descended upon the base as well. And there was an investigation. That took place. So again, my role being human resources. I was the connection to the families. I was the casualty reporting for every single person that died. It was there were cords and cameras and. People everywhere. The chaplain, you know, the historian, the lawyers on the base security. The media personnel. You know, I'm sure came from Madison. And the one that was assigned to the 128, who was in full time at the time, was activated. So people were activated to cover everything that needed to be covered for the airmen. And I won't forget it as long as I live. So it was a terrible day to be there.

SPRAGUE: What, how does this make you think about, airmen placing themselves in harm's way even when they're in, quote unquote, peacetime?

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. You know, it just makes me realize how important the maintenance and the crew of the air aircraft are to the sustainability of the organization and the Air Force. Everybody within their career, you know, put themselves in harm's way. However, different specialties within the Air Force clearly place more emphasis on harm's being put in harm's way. I have, you know, the privilege of knowing the security forces, the airmen that passed away. It just really puts it to heart to see their families, their children, the sadness and, you know, how I take it for granted because I was basically writing a desk, you know, when they were out there. Doing what they do every day to make it safe for me to fly in the airplanes and all the places I went to. I was always safe. And the confidence that I put in, to do a good job. So their training was the epitome, you know, of. Of professionalism, and I never once took that for granted. It made me really realize how much, you know, they knew their jobs and so on. And the pilot that put himself on the line, you know, his son is working at the base now. And it just goes to show how that family carries on, you know, the tradition. Of how families have an influence on their children. And they stay in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. It's home.

SPRAGUE: What? Did they ever figure out? What their investigation on that. What was the. Do you remember by chance or.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. The, the fuel pump overheated within the. And there was still fuel in there. So there was any friction, you know, a boot on the ground, a sweater or jacket. All of them were in the same position. When they found them. The remains. There was no. It was. They were instantly killed. There was no precautionary to run or get away or go to safety. It happened instantly because of a overheated fuel pump.

SPRAGUE: Anything else you'd like to talk about on that? That accident?

LEDERHAUS: Are you just that, you know, it was six people, airmen that were killed. Each one of them was a different status, which required different documentation. We had people that were active guard reserve, some that were on active duty as traditional airmen on orders that there were, some that were traditional air technicians. You know. So all three statuses were involved, which required different paperwork and different casualty reporting, which again, being in human resources affected my team and how to again check the Air Force instructions. We never had, in my experience, a casualty to date. So, it was a learning experience for me greatly. And I relied again on my officer in charge, who was Lieutenant Colonel Jim Waters, who was the director of personnel, headed up our team and really dealt well with the media and the casualty reporting, which was different places for each status the airman was in at the time.

SPRAGUE: Any advice for NCOs or officers who are involved in that casualty reporting that that that piece of work that any gems of wisdom you could give them?

LEDERHAUS: I would say, you know, to be compassionate to the family members and remember your professionalism and your esprit de corps. These are your brothers at arms. That have passed away. Your family. Look everything up in the Air Force instruction. Be. Have your whole heart and soul into making it the best. As if it was your brother that passed away. Dad, every I cross every. To make sure that everything that is possible that you can do for that family and that airman, you know, even posthumously, that it be done correctly. So use all of your tools in your tool belt and all of your peers and mentors to make that happen. So it's a tough day. Really, really tough.

SPRAGUE: You need a break. Are you okay?

LEDERHAUS: I would like to take a break, if that's okay.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Let's. Well, we're taking a break. Okay. This is segment two with Claire leader House. We're going to pick back up again with, the realignment of the 128th in 95. One of my questions for you was the card realignment program going from, a group to a wing. And also how you had been under SAC Strategic Air Command to be going under Air Mobility Command. How did those two things affect you if they did?

LEDERHAUS: Okay. Well, for me personally, I was super excited because we went from having nine aircraft to having 13, which in turn also created a lot more jobs. So I felt like we were more secure being a wing rather than a group. So personnel were hired. We got the aircraft in as we got the maintenance teams and the pilots. So it was a really, really, really good time within, 120 years. Put us more on the map, gave us more missions. From a human resource standpoint. We had more tasking. We established, a personal team, which is a personnel emergency readiness services team, and that was a package of people who had access to the Air Force, the Air Force tasking us, if you will. It would say how many airplanes, how many people, what Air Force specialty codes these people needed to be in. And it usually meant one of the Air Force human resource people, we call them a personal team would get deployed along with the people under the AMC. So it was a very good, very good day all the way around because it meant we were bigger, we were stronger, we were more visible, and we had more people. So busy time again at the 128 between training, enlisting, you know, commissioning, everything was increased.

SPRAGUE: Persico I assume the acronym is p e r s c o personnel.

LEDERHAUS: That's correct.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Just want to make sure I've got that right. Because someone will ask us 50 years from.

LEDERHAUS: Yes. What was.

Speaker 3 That?

SPRAGUE: So, 96. There was a deployment to. Looks like Italy. What was your involvement with that?

LEDERHAUS: Okay, so for the Italy deployments, again, we had, active duty deployment, military processing line for the people that were going to be deployed. Our personnel team did have two members that were deployed along with the tasking. So these people were there to support on the ground in the area from a personnel standpoint in case anybody needed anything. And then also as a connection to us here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to help them with whatever happened. And honestly, Randy, who became my husband, was deployed. He was the head of the personal team. So it affected me personally at the time. We were seeing each other then and. You know, it was it was tough to see him leave for that deployment, although it was a good location to be deployed to at the time.

SPRAGUE: What what can you tell me about, that separation of both being a service member and saying that that spouse or that significant other get deployed?

LEDERHAUS: He did something really, really nice. In advance. He had letters for me for every single day that he was gone. So he numbered. And even if it was just like a little note, he would type on the typewriter, you know, like, roses are red, violets are blue. You know, I'll think of you every day. Just sweet little things like that. So it was tough. You know, we didn't really get to talk to each other on the phone or anything in that day, and it was classified, so he couldn't tell me any of the details about it. So it was a tough day, you know, to see him go. I know that I cried and, put a note in his paperwork as well. We call them thousand milers or Holy Joe's. They were the interoffice, you know, mail that had the string on it. So I put some notes in there for him to as well.

SPRAGUE: 99 looks like 128 was involved in Kosovo. What can you tell me about that?

LEDERHAUS: You know, other than being on the deployment line, actually, you know, I guess it depends on when it was two. That's when I was, going to the Personnel systems data school that year.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: So depending on when in that year it happened, I was probably activated in Missouri for that timeframe.

SPRAGUE: Did you ever, find or think that you wanted to deploy and you couldn't, or did you always think that that option was open to you if you wanted to? Or how did that work?

LEDERHAUS: Well, being in the human resources career field, a lot of the activation stems from being home station. You know, again, you're checking their dog tags, creating new ones. You're giving them an ID card, you know, and the Deere's information system reporting all the tools in the toolbox are at the 128th in Milwaukee to execute what everyone being deployed needs. And then once we had the personnel team, they went with them. And what they called it was a war box. In essence, what it was was the computer system that was encrypted that only certain people could see. And I wasn't one of those. So my job, if I was activated, was home station at the base, you know, and again, with the families of the deployed personnel supporting them in any way, shape or form, we had activities, you know, Christmas parties, we had, Easter parties. We had, you know, gatherings just for informational purposes and activities for the kids and things for them to do. And, that's part of what I did when I was activated. And being at the 1/28 was the place that I could give the best support to everybody that was deployed.

SPRAGUE: What do you think about, how integral that what you did is to that service member who's downrange, and the family back home. What? Flush that out for me, if you could, a little bit, because I don't think everybody understands that.

LEDERHAUS: Okay, well, just the connection example would be, you know, we had family emergencies where the family would contact us in the event that a service members, spouse, child, mother, father, you know, was in a critical situation where we had to get that airman back to Wisconsin as soon as possible. So that's where my role came into play, being in human resources. Was there connection? Okay. Again, chair, check the Air Force instruction manual. You know, what are the parameters for this person? What can we do and how fast can we get them back here to support, you know, their family here at home and replace them with another airman with the same qualifications and skill level? To keep the mission going. So it was always mission driven, of course. But yet the human element is where I came into play. And other people within the human resources career field, there were orders that needed to be amended. There were two fourteens that needed to be cut. There were special. You know, people that needed to be, activated, that need to be notified. We needed to notify their employer. You know, we need this person, stat, you know? So employer support of the garden reserve was also very important elements within the Air National Guard being the mission driven under the Air Force's command because the airmen were employed full time by other employers within the state. So, I was a part of that support group as well. The employer supported the garden reserve. So.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Moving ahead. Where were you on nine over 11?

LEDERHAUS: I was working at the base, and I remember my supervisor turning on the TV. And what prompted him to do that? I am not sure, because I wasn't in the same cubicle, if you will. And I saw, you know, a replay of the airplane hitting the tower. And it was just, like, immediate shock. I was I felt like I was in shock. I couldn't believe what I saw, and I was even asking my supervisor for validation, you know, of what just happened. So immediately the base went into kind of like, lock down, if you will. We were all commanded to leave the base, except for security of the base sent home to our families. And just to make sure that we connected and that everybody was safe. And it was just terror. You know, it was. Unbelievable. No one could believe it. And again, you know, just as friends, we all kind of commune together with nature. And then when our own separate ways back to our families until we got further, you know, instructions from our commander.

SPRAGUE: And. What were some of the immediately after nine over 11? What were the what was the first phone calls and what were some of the first missions that. The 128th went out on?

LEDERHAUS: Well, obviously after that date nothing at the 1/20 was the same. You know, security completely changed. We had barriers now cement barriers that we had to drive around and increase security. You know, there came the barbed wire fence all around where the aircraft were, along with live security on the flight line, armed, you know, they were circling the perimeter within the fence line and outside of the fence line just to ensure that our aircraft were safe along with US personnel. Everything was about preservation, to keep everyone safe at the time. More people were activated, especially security and more full time active guard. Reservists were hired at that point in time within the base history. Some of those things, I think a blackout, just because I don't really remember, you know, the stage of everything, but, everything was completely different from my HR standpoint as well, just because, again, we had more people to hire, to activate, to train, to document. And, yeah, it was it was a very, very busy time again and very kind, very scary at the same time for my coworkers and people I knew. My sister was activated again. She, was also part of casualty reporting. So she was activated to, DC to. I can't think of the name of the base for casualty reporting. And she actually had a really hard time with that. All the protocols and the bodies and. The transport and identification processes for casualty reporting. But that was part of her job at the time. So again, that affected her family. So.

SPRAGUE: So, what unit was she with at that point, do you know, or was it she. I'm trying to understand. Yeah. Was she with the 128th and reassigned, or. She had been with another unit and was reassigned to it. Help me out with that.

LEDERHAUS: She was assigned to the 1/28, but activated to go help with the casualty reporting. And, it escapes me. And what what the basis for casualty reporting. I can't you.

SPRAGUE: Got me on that one.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. I feel bad that I don't I don't.

SPRAGUE: Know and you're remind me again your sister's name.

LEDERHAUS: Angela Napper. Ella. Okay.

SPRAGUE: Yeah, but she was with 128th and then got activated to go to that other unit.

LEDERHAUS: Right.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Trying to make sure I get it right.

LEDERHAUS: Yes.

SPRAGUE: So. What were. You know, it looks like there were a number of missions after 911 that the 128th was involved in. What can you tell me about how you handled those people who were deployed and how that went?

LEDERHAUS: Yeah, again, my sister was activated also and sent to Turkmenistan, and they weren't allowed to leave the base while they were activated there. And because she was a female, she eventually did get to leave the base, but had to dress like they do in Turkey with, you know, the head covering and full body wear when she did eventually get to leave the base. So again, that was hard on her family. We were concerned about her. There wasn't a good place to be at the time. And, you know, again, I would have handled her paperwork and documentation orders, stuff like that during that time. So it was human resources was kind of a tough spot to be when you had family members that were being deployed at that time. And it was hard to see, you know, what they went through and had to do when they were deployed. Right. And the conditions they were in, you know, with the sand and the tents, just to hear all the stories that were told gradually as people came back.

SPRAGUE: And what you may have said this already, your sister was what part of the 128th. What where did she fit in? The structure. Sorry.

LEDERHAUS: Okay. She was assigned to the services flight. And along with preparing meals, part of the service's flight is morale, welfare and recreation. Casualty reporting is what she was tasked with, and that was part of her job. So, again, you know, you wouldn't think that you would have to do that aspect of your position. But that was probably the hardest part of her career, was, being in the casualty reporting status during that time. It was part of what the services Floyd did along with, you know, like the. Oh, geez. The. The group that, gets into the uniforms for, ceremonial.

SPRAGUE: Like an honor.

LEDERHAUS: Guard or honor guard. Exactly. Okay. So.

SPRAGUE: Okay.

LEDERHAUS: She headed up that as well.

SPRAGUE: Yeah. And you had participation in the honor guard?

LEDERHAUS: I did, I did.

SPRAGUE: Tell me about that a little.

LEDERHAUS: I went through the training and I performed, you know, casket guard duty, which is just on a rotation every half hour. You switch with another honor guard member. We had a special uniform we wore with all the silver piping. We wore the, bus driver hat, if you will. It was the the square one. And, it was quite an honor. I marched in parades, and I also participated in folding flags at funerals and presenting them to, military survivors of the family.

SPRAGUE: So what was that like doing that, handing that flag over?

LEDERHAUS: It was really, really hard. It was an honor and it was sad. But I felt honored to be able to connect with the survivor. And most of the time it wasn't with anybody that I personally knew because that would have been too hard.

SPRAGUE: That was my next call.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah, yeah.

SPRAGUE: I couldn't imagine.

LEDERHAUS: I couldn't I couldn't do that for anybody I personally have connections with.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So how about when did you start on the honor guard? Just out of curiosity, roughly. Do you remember when.

LEDERHAUS: It was a little later in my career. I was a master sergeant at the time when I did that, and it was considered an additional duty. So, it did require training, you know, uniform requirements, an additional uniform to maintain, and then traveling with that as well. So, it really, really was a learning. Part of my career. I enjoyed every aspect of it, even though it was difficult. And like I said, you know, it was not always at funerals, although the majority of it was it was also at parades, you know, and representing the Air National Guard to the state of Wisconsin at different events within the community. So.

SPRAGUE: Okay. Moving back a little bit. From the honor guard, 2003, operation Iraqi Freedom. What was your involvement with that? And how what were some of the operational requirements for that?

LEDERHAUS: Okay, so in 2003, I, was kind of in a transition phase. Going over to state headquarters. So I was the human resource advisor for the Air Refueling wing, transitioning to being assigned to the Joint Force Headquarters and being, human resource advisor for the state of Wisconsin.

SPRAGUE: And if you could, please help flush out that, human resource advisor for the state of Wisconsin. What does that position do?

LEDERHAUS: Okay. It oversees, the human resource advisor within the state, which would be the 128 the refueling wing and the 115 Fighter wing. And then I was also head of the Diversity Council, which incorporated social actions. The recruiters, the commanders, training of airmen and the human resource advisors at each unit. So it was kind of like a culmination of the 115 fighter wing and the 128th Air Refueling Wing. People within those roles, you know, were caught, were instrumental in the people that I, I worked with as the advisor for the state.

SPRAGUE: And now, that billet or position was at the Joint Forces headquarters in Madison.

LEDERHAUS: Yes.

SPRAGUE: Our Truex field. More correct. Clear.

LEDERHAUS: No, it was at the Joint Force headquarters. So we were purple. We were Army and Air at that position.

SPRAGUE: Okay. And I have to ask, what was it like being purple?

LEDERHAUS: It was amazing.

Speaker 3 Oh, really?

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. It was, it was it was it was great. I had, other people from the 1/28, the recruiter for the state. Chief Master Sergeant Connie Basic came from the 128th. So she was assigned to headquarters as the lead recruiter for the state, along with myself as the human resource advisor for the state. And then also, a personal friend of mine who my dad also recruited, Chief Master Sergeant Michael Cravalho was, the head for the Security Council at Joint Force headquarters. At the same time, I was. So it was the culmination of, again, Army and Air, and we had staff meetings that comprised of Army and air. I worked for. I believe. Yeah. How welcoming was the Adjutant general? Initially, when I became the human resource advisor. And then after him, it was, the, the commander at the 1/28 Air Refueling Wing that I worked for as a human resource advisor, was assigned to headquarters as well, Donald Dunbar, where he became a brigadier general, and then also John McCoy. Who became a colonel and also a brigadier general. So it was almost like part of the 128th followed me, or came up at about the same time as me. So I had all these familiar faces, but yet I got to know some of the army aspects of it as well. I actually carpooled with an intelligence colonel from the 128th, who was hired about the same time as me. We took turns driving up to Madison. It increased my level of responsibility. I now went from averaging, you know, 15 to 25 days of active duty for training. Now I was up in the range of 45 to 60 days of annual training, along with my guard reserve duty one weekend a month. I attended conferences, you know, that comprised of the human resource advisors from all states. So I got to know a lot of other people. I had a really good connection with. With Washington, D.C., at that time. He was a human resource information systems manager when I was, and we got to be good friends along the way as well. So it up my traveling a lot and my training again, I went because this was another Air Force specialty code. So I went down for human resource advisor training to, Florida, where I trained, and I believe it wasn't, Air Force Base. It was, a different, base that I trained at, but it was a bunch of people from all different states that I got to know through that training.

SPRAGUE: And about that time, one of your responsibilities and one of the things that you mentioned in another interview is you talk about, the Air Force Climate Survey.

LEDERHAUS: Oh, yes.

SPRAGUE: Please tell me about that.

LEDERHAUS: Okay. The Air Force Climate Survey. Has to have, I believe it's a 40 percentile of participation in order to mean anything. So it was pretty much, driven by social actions. And I myself had a key role because I attended the commander's staff meetings to portray to supervisors the importance of this climate survey. The climate survey was, in essence, asking airmen about their training, if they felt that they had a sufficient level of training for their Air Force specialty code. It was, questions about your supervisor and also, whether or not you felt you were harassed in any way. That was a way to anonymously give that information back to the unit. So it was very important to the base commander, you know, the wing commander, the state of Wisconsin. And it was, in essence, what it was was the climate of the unit for morale, morale standpoint from a training level standpoint, from a how how, fair is your awards and decorations program? You know, how fair are you with your promotions? You know, do you feel that you weren't promoted for reasons beyond your control? So an individual actually had an opportunity to put comments within these different areas on the survey anonymously. So it was it was very serious time within my career, and I felt a lot of weight on my shoulders. And I had a really good rapport with the social Actions team, along with Scott Lieberman, who was the. Historian, and also kind of like the person who did like the tankard in the newspapers at the time, the journalist, if you will. So we all work together with the supervisors to get everybody on board with as much as we could to make this attainable. Unfortunately, it required logging into a computer. So in all areas, everybody didn't have a computer like we did in human resources and admin. So we had set up stations where we had people available to help airman do the climate survey, get logged in and all that.

SPRAGUE: So do you think, in general, you were given, enough leeway and enough freedom of action to conduct the survey, by your chain of command to, to to allow you to do it in a way that would, you know, be responsible or be useful. I don't know. I have to ask.

LEDERHAUS: I mean, yeah, I have to say, individually, I was only a strong enough as the team that I worked with. And at the time, Sherry Holly was a major in social actions, and she had other airmen working with her. And we locked elbows and we reviewed these surveys, you know, with utmost privacy. And it was her call, as you know, the diversity person and officer, to ensure that anything that needed to be sent up the chain of command to the IG, the inspector general, was with utmost privacy. As possible in professionalism to warrant whether there needed to be an investigation behind these allegations that were, in a start, within this climate survey. So.

SPRAGUE: Can you in general comment about, issues discovered on the result of the survey or any particular patterns or things that came up?

LEDERHAUS: Yeah.

SPRAGUE: In general.

LEDERHAUS: For myself personally as human resource advisor, it was discovered that training was lacking and the lack of the training was basically on the shoulders of the supervisors. So we saw that individual airmen were being pencil whipped through some of the tasks. And the only way we knew this was by going through the supervisor to get the individual training records of people that had difficulties. And it was discovered that people who failed their correspondence courses to get upgraded to their next skill level didn't have the adequate training. So as a commander, Colonel Cozadd, because they had a separate proper way to pronounce his name, had me work with supervisors, and training was one of the responsibilities I had as a result of the survey. Another thing was awards and decorations. Ultimately, it was looked upon as decorations were H.R centric or human resource administrative centric because we were in charge of the program being awards and decorations. So we needed to increase awards and decorations. Training for people in maintenance, for people in supply, for people and services, for people in medical because they were not representing their units and submitting packages for decorations for individuals who were going above and beyond. So the training there needed to be increased to get the awards index monitors on board with submitting packages. So there was accountability issues there with these monitors who were in charge of awards and decorations. So that was also increased. And then the other thing was there were failures within the weight control and. Exercise program. The the fitness training standard for the Air Force, which subsequently the Air National Guard standards were a little different. Needed to be, increased. So there was a computer data system that I needed to train people on. And also I needed to train people on, the actual fitness program at the time. So, people were being discharged for not being able to maintain the weight standard and also not being able to do the fitness. So we needed to take measures to get people trained and to get fitness as a forefront. And then there were some behind the scenes IG issues that arose out of the. Survey, you know, which would include supervisory issues, you know, possible discrimination against women and even sexual harassment, things that were uncovered at the time. But I don't I'm not privy to that information. I just know from working with social actions there, there were definite reports.

SPRAGUE: I understand that you weren't privy to it. From the IG and those individual, things. Did you, feel did you? Variance, gender discrimination. All survey.

LEDERHAUS: I did, I did, I would say it was more along the lines of harassment, more so from other male airmen, you know, between, you know, unprofessional language directed towards myself and also working in customer service. Again, I saw everyone. So I did have to report an individual, male who disrespected me to my supervisor, who very readily took action and went to that airman supervisor. So it was an unpleasant time, you know, but, I feel that my supervisor handled that quickly, discreetly, and the airman did apologize to me ultimately face to face. So it was handled very professionally at the time.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So, you had talked about also as a result of the, survey about, the fitness program within the guard and working with training others on that. And can you help me out? Tell me a little bit of more about that.

LEDERHAUS: Sure. Do you want to pause?

SPRAGUE: I'm okay if you are okay. That's okay. We're good.

LEDERHAUS: All right. I had myself totally absorbed into this as far as the database goes, and I did training with individuals regarding how to do the database. I had so many days I had to put in, I had to order steps from the Air Force, because at that point in time, it was a step program, and I ran the actual. Step programs in the hangar with these stairs. So I was, a fitness guru. Colonel Shahzad put me in charge of that, and it was a huge undertaking. I had to, get everybody to to pass the test, if you will. So it was step, step down, step, step down. There was music. There was. It was very, Air National Guard centric. So it was different from the Air Force, but it was what the Air Force dictated the Air National Guard do for the fitness program, certain amount of cardio. There were, push ups involved, sit ups involved. There was a body mass index that had to be maintained. There were waivers for people that were bodybuilders and had like 18 inch arms because they were muscle weighs more than fat. So you definitely had to take into consideration those people that were bodybuilders. So it was a very entailed program, and it required a lot of time and effort on my part to make that happen.

SPRAGUE: So at this, at 2006 or beforehand, you had already achieved the rank of chief master sergeant, or was that a little later?

LEDERHAUS: I achieved chief master sergeant while assigned to join forces headquarters.

SPRAGUE: Okay, so. Oh five or oh four somewhere in there?

LEDERHAUS: Yes.

SPRAGUE: Okay. So what were your what were your thoughts when you became a chief?

LEDERHAUS: Okay. Well, my first thought was, of course, the spirit of my father, who was the chief master sergeant when he retired and subsequently passed away. I always wanted him to be there to pin my stripes on. And he passed away, in 1987. So he wasn't around for me to see it or anything, actually. So it was a bittersweet day. My family was there to support me, and, it was exciting because I attained my personal goal. And at the time, I didn't really realize it. But only 2% of the enlisted force attained the rank of chief master sergeant. So being a female within the Air National Guard for the state of Wisconsin, it was just a huge, humongous, joyous day. From a career standpoint, I felt very, very well achieved and very proud of my rank.

SPRAGUE: Absolutely. Who penned you that day?

LEDERHAUS: I was pinned by. I'm trying to think we had a party up there, and I believe it was, I believe it was, either Donald Dunbar or John McCoy at the time.

SPRAGUE: Oh.

LEDERHAUS: Okay. That would have been me. Wow. Yeah.

SPRAGUE: Tell me a little bit about, as chief Master Sergeant. Tell me a little bit about, your leadership style or philosophy.

LEDERHAUS: Well, my leadership style was to ask questions. You know, I'm not in that person's shoes, and I don't have a rapport with the airman assigned to that unit. So I knew a little bit more about the 120 years, of course, with the history, because I trained the individual who became my successor. However, at the 1/15 Fighter Wing, I knew through counterpoint activity throughout my career in H.R., the staff within H.R., but I didn't know the person that was assigned as a human resource advisor. So I would ask questions about their method and what worked best for them. And if it was working well at the time, then more power to you. You know, you're running your own ship here. I was more of a support as long as you were within the Air Force instructions of what was needed and attaining the goals, it your own individual personal style of how you did things. As a professional, I was fine with that. So there was a lot of camaraderie. You know, we attended conferences together. We trained together. You know, I was very hands on with the 115 as well. Like I said, I knew, you know, the human resource advisor people and H.R., people from the 1/15, one of my greatest mentors there was who ended up being the chief. There was a female, Lori was her first name. I can't think of her last. It might have changed, but she was the chief at the time at the 1/15 Fighter Wing. And throughout my career, she. I kind of followed her. And, we became good personal friends as well.

SPRAGUE: What would be your guidance to someone who's considering entering the Wisconsin Air National Guard? They haven't gone to basic. They haven't raised their right hand. What would you tell them?

LEDERHAUS: Well, first I would ask them, what do you have to offer their National Guard? Because it's not all about what does the guard have to offer me, per se. Because whatever your strengths are. Is basically what's going to be the elements in the foreground for your career as being successful with the Air National Guard? What are your strengths? Where is your knowledge base at? What's your drive? What are you interested in doing? Where do you want to know more about? Because the Air National Guard has everything from medics to food service pilots, maintenance crew, medical staff, lawyers, administrative H.R. Kind of like, what do you want to be? Within the Air National Guard. Where do you feel you could add to the strength of the mission?

SPRAGUE: You had mentioned it earlier. Different topic. Who are the Bruce City tankers?

LEDERHAUS: The Bruce City Tankers are a group of individuals that support the mission of the 128th Refueling Wing. They're the backbone of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. They're the strength knowledge sustainment of the missions required. And, they're the professionals.

SPRAGUE: Okay. What are some inside traditions of the 128th that you'd be willing to share? If there if there are any?

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. Well, back in the old days, the 128th did have, a servicemen's club or service persons club. So, in the early days, it was when you got promoted, you were buying at the club, and it was a tradition, you know, for all ranks to attend. And it was, a fun place to go and celebrate and to have that camaraderie, if you will, with all the different sections within, within the base to celebrate. You know, not everybody drank, but a good deal of drinking did take place there. And people put up their, you know, patches of their names within the club and also different patches. For different sections like supply. You know, we all had our, different emblems to represent. So those were a few of the traditions. I know that pilots, when they retired, you know, they got to take their final flight and we would douse them with, you know, water and ice on the flight line when they came off that aircraft. And the same thing with maintainers, you know, their last job on that aircraft that they had been maintained for their whole career was a really big deal. And a lot of times they signed their number of aircraft, you know, with their signature or their initials. So there was a great deal of pride, and there were a lot of traditions that took place upon retirement with ceremonies. And, you know, that's where the honor guard came into play, having a nice thing to do. The dining hall was used a lot of times for family and friends and anybody base wide to attend fellow professional, retirement ceremonies. People from Madison would fly in and the, you know, helicopters, the Blackhawks and land on the flight line and be present. So there was a big deal of, professionalism, honor, integrity and service and acknowledgment to those who served their whole career within the 128.

SPRAGUE: What was the name of the all ranks club?

LEDERHAUS: The club?

SPRAGUE: The club. Okay.

LEDERHAUS: It was just the club.

SPRAGUE: Okay. What? What drove your decision? What, drove your decision to retire and get out of the 128th and leave the military?

LEDERHAUS: My decision was my family. I felt that I had achieved all of my goals professionally, and my husband retired as an active guard reservist in 2006. My daughter was eight years old when I retired in 2008. And really, my thought process was I did not want to hold up that chief slot for someone else to be able to move up. So I had attained my rank, fulfilled my personal goals. I attained my master's degree. In the process going part time while I was assigned to Joint Force Headquarters. That took me three years. From 2003 to 2006, I was going to a university. I actually got a scholarship through the Air National Guard to start my MBA with Concordia, through Concordia, and. I wanted another individual to experience. The joy of becoming a chief Master sergeant. I didn't want to hold up the ranks.

SPRAGUE: What was it like, the day after your retirement?

LEDERHAUS: Well, it felt nice to know that I wouldn't have to work weekends and even more. Throughout my career, I missed a lot of family gatherings, a lot of holidays, important events, either being, you know, gone somewhere for a conference or schooling because I did a lot of that along the way. It was just like, peaceful to know my weekends were now free to be with my family and my friends for important holidays and events. And I guess at the same time, I miss the camaraderie and the travel of the friendships that I had sustained over the years. I did keep in contact with a lot of them, and I still do today. So.

SPRAGUE: And what after you made your retirement, what did you what was your next path? What did you do next?

LEDERHAUS: Okay. After I retired. I concentrated on my family, and I worked part time for the city of Muskegon in the mayor's office, and that worked out well with my daughter's school schedule. So I did that for a few years, and then I looked for other federal civil service employment. I was hired by the Milwaukee Veterans Administration regional office in the fiduciary department. So within that department, I actually took a cut in my pay to start out with my career at the VA. Just built up over time every chance that I had. I applied for higher positions. I worked in the fiduciary department, so I was in charge of retroactive payments. To disabled veterans. So these were disability compensation veterans who retired with a certain level. Let's use, for example, 30%. So on the day Agent Orange became and passed as a law, all of those people went from 30% to 100% disability compensation. They were entitled to retroactive payments with cost of living increases every year. So I was in the fiduciary department, calculating sometimes a decade or so of retroactive payments due to veterans who are exposed to Agent Orange, just for an example. So then I had, a person that I had review my work. And. My calculations. So every year, like I said, was a cost of living increase. It was by their years of service, their rank, their disability level. And the highest check I wrote was 335,000. If the veteran passes away, they're not entitled in the process. They're not entitled to anything. The family. So sometimes we had times where I would stay late, and it was an emergency situation where a veteran was in hospice care. So my role was to get this calculation and this allotment to the family, to the veteran, before they passed away.

SPRAGUE: So and what was that like being a veteran yourself and being in that position? How did how did that feel for you? And what was that like experiencing? I could imagine it would be there was a lot of pressure or I would think to do it right and to and to also help that family out and make sure they, you know, that veteran got what they deserved.

LEDERHAUS: Yeah. Unfortunately, sometimes families weren't connected to the veteran very well. And those were the days where I tried my hardest and I stayed on the phone for 20 minutes, and the veteran needed to have a representative because they weren't in a state of mind or body to handle the funds themselves. They needed to be have appointed a fiduciary for them. So it was difficult at times because the family would hang up on me and we had to find a representative, and it was difficult.

SPRAGUE: Do you think, one of the reasons why you chose to work at the VA was because you were a veteran, or was that not a connection?

LEDERHAUS: It was definitely a connection. There was no doubt whatsoever. You know, I wanted to continue as in with my past and all of the things I had being Air Force, the rank structure, you know, knowing the contingencies the veterans served in. There was a direct connection with me wanting to help them. And also I worked with pension cases, and these were income based pension cases where basically. The widow or the widower was applying for survivor benefits. And this to I had a heartfelt connection with the people who were the survivors of the veteran to continue to establish their benefits and their eligibility to continue to get them. So.

SPRAGUE: How did you continue on with the VRA? Are you still working for them or where? Where is that at?

LEDERHAUS: I stayed with the V.A., and I succeeded. You know, my federal civil service, an additional seven years, and also two big pay grades beyond what I had at the 128th. My husband passed away, and I maintained my status as a full time technician with the VA until I attained my minimum retirement age, which was 55.5, and I already had the years of service. The minimum years of service was 20, and I had 23 years of federal civil service at that time. So my daughter was only 16 when my husband died. And, you know, I it was a lot to take on at one time. So I retired at that time.

SPRAGUE: And that was what year in 2019. Okay.

LEDERHAUS: So I stayed on beyond the date of his death in 2017, but they allowed me actually to work from home, which I was gradually making my way back home. And at that time, people were half and half working from home and working telecommuting, if you will. So.

SPRAGUE: What, currently, what involvement, do you have with, veterans organizations?

LEDERHAUS: I currently I volunteer at the Aurora hospitals, in part due to my husband's death. I saw a need there, for volunteers. So I work the Covid clinic two days a week. During that whole duration, I was a transporter. I worked in the NICU initially at West Allis Memorial Hospital. I help babies that were coming off of being addicted to drugs. I did the supply cards. The nutrition cards. I had a lot of several roles within the Aurora facility. And then I also volunteered at, the Hunger Task force. I started out at the for 40th after they moved away. The hunger Task force had their headquarters located at the four 40th. So I did senior stock boxes, and I started that with my daughter. It was something we did together, and it was like coming home, kind of going at a 448, you know, to, to do this. It was close to my house. And it was the area I was familiar with. I did that up until just this past year, and with my injury, I just resigned my hunger task force subsequently. Now they're on Holly road with the new headquarters building on 60th and Lincoln in the industrial park there. So I basically did the Hunger Task force, all of the special events. I represented a veteran in the video for Veterans Day as a volunteer. I would do the special events days and senior stock box. And then also I did some like lifting of boxes at locations where senior representatives would come to collect the box for seniors. So I did that for a very long time. And then I volunteer at the zoo. So my full time job just became a myriad of interests that I had in places that I thought were important. To assist with. I did assist veterans at Saint Luke's. A lot of times, veterans came in for wound care. And, you know, they had their hats on and their t shirts. So I would connect with them as a veteran.

SPRAGUE: One of the, the video for the Hunger Task Force for Veterans Day. So we've got the Veterans Day piece covered. Okay. I want to ask you about another day. Tell me about how, comment on the difference of your state of mind on Memorial Day as opposed to Veterans Day.

LEDERHAUS: Okay, Memorial day. You know, you have a heavy heart. And remember those, you know, that were killed, you know, in the line of duty and those six airmen on the flight line? I go to a Union Grove Memorial cemetery on a regular basis. My father is buried there. My two uncles, the marine and the paratrooper. My husband is there. A lot of coworkers that have gone before me are buried there. So I go there on Veteran's Day and to those grave sites, and I commemorate them. I usually bring, you know, bouquet of flowers, wreath of some sort. Union Grove is really strict on there parameters of what you can do and bring there. So, it's a sad day for me, but that's part of my day is to go there to the cemetery. And just remember them.

SPRAGUE: What do you think your life would have been like if you had joined the Wisconsin National Guard?

LEDERHAUS: My life would have been completely different. I can't even imagine my life without the Wisconsin Air National Guard. All the knowledge, skills and abilities that I attained. You know how I kept going back to school? You know my scholarship. How I had personal goals achieved as well as professional goals. I was very driven with the Wisconsin Air National Guard, and I was a representative of the female population. I mentored a lot of women over the years. And, like I said, I, I can't imagine my life without the Air National Guard. I married my husband, who I met through the Wisconsin Air National Guard, and he was my friend for ten years before I married him. And he was the love of my life, father of my daughter. And. Yeah, my whole life and family is part of the guard.

SPRAGUE: Tell me a little bit about what motivated you to do this interview.

LEDERHAUS: Well, the I Am Not Invisible campaign brought me together with a lot of women and their strength in numbers. I knew on that day with all of the women officers and enlisted all the branch of the service that were there. How special we really, really are within the history of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, you know, and the Air Force and all of the branches of the service, it kind of opened my eyes to, you know, what an impact I was. And I didn't even realize it at the time. And what a role model I kind of became over the years, becoming a chief and going to headquarters and not having any barriers, you know, oversee my career. It was really important to me to do this interview just to have people understand from a female perspective as well, how it felt to be there, a different element rather than a male perspective. You know, how I joined forces and elbows with men, mostly men, to achieve our mission within the Air National Guard? How important every single one of us was. And it didn't matter. You know what rank we were or. What gender. So.

SPRAGUE: Did we, miss anything you'd like to cover?

LEDERHAUS: Just said I'm. I'm very proud of my achievements. And I'm very proud of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. I'm connected to them to this day and participate in a lot of things that they have that goes on within the state. I want to thank you for your time and interest, and I hope you know my little piece of history as a woman in the Air National Guard for the state of Wisconsin. You know, can be captured and made public to a lot of other women to know that there's strength in numbers and we can continue to increase our population as women in the force of the Air National Guard and the Air Force. So thank you.

SPRAGUE: Thank you. So, that's going to conclude the interview.

LEDERHAUS: Okay. Thank you.

SPRAGUE: Thank you.

[Interview Ends]