Page 9 - Desert Lightning News, So. AZ Edition, Aug. 4 2017

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Bonded through service, linked by fate
Story and photo by Staff Sgt. CHIP PONS
Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
CHICAGO — Thousands gathered to wit- ness an extraordinary display of resilience and strength by the nation’s wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans repre- senting all branches of the military during the 2017 Department of Defense Warrior Games in Chicago.
The lives of two Air Force master sergeants became forever intertwined, as if guided by fate, leading them toward a chance to serve as teammates and represent Team Air Force at this year’s games.
Growing up in the Lone Star state, roughly 1.3 miles separated Master Sgts. Linn Knight and Kenneth Guinn, both explosive ordnance disposal troops currently stationed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, perhaps not the stark- est similarity, but the beginning of many.
The pair, who would not officially meet until 2010, joined the Air Force in 2004 - Guinn in June and Knight in July. After attending separate technical training courses, Knight, a former lab technician who later cross-trained into the EOD career field in 2009, and Guinn both received orders to Joint Base San Antonio- Lackland, Texas, as their first duty station, living in dorms roughly 100 meters apart.
Recognized as superior performers, the two Airmen earned senior airman below-the-zone
during the same cycle. With that promotion motivating the two, each earned promotion to staff sergeant their first attempt the same year, with line numbers separated only by several hundred.
Today, their friendship and wingmanship is obvious, but their story of these chance co- incidences collided in 2010 when the duo was tasked to deploy as part of a team supporting the United States Marine Corps in Afghanistan. Still strangers to one another at that time, Knight and Guinn experienced a moment most Americans can only understand by watching a Hollywood production.
Knight and Guinn found themselves targets of a command detonated improvised explosive device while traveling in two separate convoys, each within an hour of each another, separated by approximately one kilometer.
“Most of what I remember is sitting there as the team leader and feeling the pain in my ears from the blast pressure,” Guinn said. “As the dust settled, the taste was more memorable than the smell. A metallic, charred taste filled my mouth, and all I kept thinking was ‘this is only my first week here.’”
As the driver of a different vehicle several streets over, Knight recalls the blast best by the memory of her hands being forced off the steering wheel in slow motion.
“I remember looking out at empty streets, which is never a good sign,” she said. “Then, I remember time slowing following the explosion
and my helmet getting slammed into the ceiling of the vehicle overhead light”.
Both members’ names were placed on a casualty report due to traumatic brain inju- ries, officially enrolling them in the Air Force Wounded Warrior program - on the same day.
“The TBI greatly altered my memory,” Knight said. “My short-term recall is nearly nonexis- tent. I can tell you what I wore for my birthday when I turned four, but I couldn’t even begin to tell you what I had for dinner last night.”
Despite the program making multiple at- tempts to make contact with the two Airmen, both initially dismissed AFW2’s invitation to get enrolled and begin their own healing processes.
“I felt that there were so many other people out there who genuinely needed the programs help - people who were physically or seriously wounded,” Guinn said. “Why should I take up a slot and take away someone else’s help?”
For Knight, it was the perception that some military communities placed upon perceived weakness that prevented her from seeking assistance sooner.
“That fear-based perception is only amplified for a woman ... I didn’t want to be perceived as a weak woman,” she said. “We are a very male- dominant career field. As a woman, whether you like it or not, people will notice you in both good and bad scenarios. In our career field, once a weakness is perceived, it’s usually over, and I didn’t want to be that person. I was willing to suffer in silence in order to put the mission first.
Master Sgts. Linn Knight and Kenneth Guinn, explosive ordnance disposal specialists assigned to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., pose for a photo with their of- ficial Warrior Games medals July 8 at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
“Instead, I developed unhealthy ways of cop- ing. I drank too much, overworked myself and instead of dealing with my issues, I ignored them – that just seemed easier.”
Each of them was suffering in silence, afraid to seek the help they needed in fear of losing their clearances and future deployments. Unfor- tunately, both Guinn and Knight reported they had sub-standard experiences with medical staff that only set them further back on their road to recovery.
“I have had encounters with mental health
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