Former chief couple continues serving, making impact at Lajes

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
  • 65th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
LAJES FIELD, Azores --  Many Airmen know Cynthia Burney at the Airman and Family Readiness Center. But not many know that under her belt of experience as a counselor is the Air Force top enlisted rank.

Thirty-three years ago when she joined the Air Force, she knew she was going to get an education, and even aspired to get the best out of the military--she retired after 26 years of service to her country as a chief master sergeant.

As if that wasn't enough, she knocked out two associate degrees, a bachelor's with honors and also two master's degrees before she retired.
Before she joined, she didn't know that another outstanding Airman, Garrick Burney, would later become her husband. They've been married 27 years and both retired as chief master sergeants. Garrick retired three years ago after 30 years of service.

The two retired chiefs' story began in the '70s before they met each other. They had separate goals and came from different backgrounds. But fate and the Air Force brought them together.

While Cynthia came from a military family, Garrick did not. Cynthia's father was in the Army at Fort Bragg, N.C., and Garrick's only military tie was living close to a military base in Indiana.

Coming from a family of 11 siblings, four of Cynthia's five brothers joined the Army. Her goal was to travel and get an education; she knew the military was one way to achieve that goal.

When she was in the 11th grade, an Air Force recruiter visited her school and talked about the opportunity to go to college and travel the world. Right there, Cynthia said she knew the recruiter was talking directly to her, and she was going to join the Air Force, despite being in Army ROTC at the time.
Also as an Army brat, she thought the Air Force would be a different experience.

Garrick also had a large family, but his parents could only sponsor him and his siblings to attend high school. "During our time in the '70s, once you graduated high school, it was like fight or flight. You had to work to eat."

With five brothers and one sister, they grew up six miles from Grissom Air Reserve Base, Ind., once known as "Bunker Hill Air Force Base." Garrick was driven at a young age to get a skill that would last him a lifetime. He often worked with summer hires cutting grass for the civil engineering unit.

"That is what I grew up doing all my life," he said. And ironically, when the time came for him to join the Air Force, a job opening came up in the civil engineering department. Unlike his wife, Garrick was not enticed by any recruiter or his parents to join the Air Force. He was simply attracted to the Air Force life by the image of "sharp Airmen," who frequently visited his town in their uniform.

"We were always teased about the Airmen coming into town to steal our girls," Chief (Garrick) Burney said. "They always looked sharp. These guys had cars, they had jobs, and they had money."

Chief Burney described himself as an ambitious person. "I was 'hungry,' I guess. I wanted a skill, and I wanted an education. The travel didn't really entice me because I had never been to any place," he said. "Growing up in (Peru) a small Indiana town with about 2,000 people, I didn't realize there were other bases. I thought I would join and get stationed at Grissom."

But he never got stationed at Grissom. After two years of service as a pavement maintenance specialist, the Air Force took Garrick to Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where he met Cynthia, then a jet engine mechanic sergeant.

Two and a half years after meeting each other, the two love-birds got married. By then, Garrick, a staff sergeant, had cross-trained into a PME instructor job.

"We've both always been goal-oriented," Chief (Cynthia) Burney said. "That is one of the things that really kept us together as a couple."

As an Army brat, Cynthia already learned about being disciplined. She knew about following rules, so she didn't have any problems following them after joining the Air Force.

"I knew I wanted to be a counselor when my fellow coworkers and friends would always come and talk with me about different issues or problems," she said. "I discovered I had a gift for listening and talking."

And she decided to be a counselor.

"I knew I could make better use of my life's gifts as a counselor, and Garrick encouraged and supported me," she added.

She described her husband as a mentor and a major player in "teaching" her about the Air Force.

But he echoed her comment in a humble way. He said there was no secret at all to everything he taught her. "I only had different ways of looking at things," he said.

Chief Burney said the same way his wife learned from him, he also learned from her.

"Together we were able to melt our careers and bounce things off each other about life," Chief (Garrick) Burney said, describing the process as an exchange of information.

"We never really got to the point where I was telling her what to do, and she wasn't telling me what to do," the retired chief said.

Chief (Cynthia) Burney is now assigned to the 65th Force Support Squadron as the community readiness consultant for the Airman and Family Readiness Center.

The chiefs describe their lives as a beautiful journey that they've both learned to enjoy together.

"Just like here, right now," Chief (Garrick) Burney said, referring to Lajes Field, Azores. "This is another stopping place on the way along our lives. You just have to stop and take the time to enjoy it."

Though a lot has changed since the Burneys joined the Air Force and met each other, they said one thing has never changed--when it comes to raising a family, Airmen and great leaders in the Air Force, the Air Force always needs good mentors.

Mrs. Burney has vast experience as a former enlisted member, a military spouse and a mother of three children.

Her assignment to Lajes is one of the ways she could continue her commitment to serve, even after retiring.

"As long as I am able to serve and travel, I am in, and this allows me to do that," Mrs. Burney said. "I feel that I have the experiences, after being in the military, and the forethought to continue to tell people that the military, definitely, is a good way of life because we are proof of that. I also want them to know they have a life after the military."

Mrs. Burney said the word sergeant means 'one who serves,' which is exactly what she is still doing here at Lajes.