WEBVTT

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- Hi, my name is Elis Salamone.

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I'm currently a woman's health nurse practitioner

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at Madigan Army Medical Center.

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And I'm currently living in University Place, Washington,

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outside Tacoma.

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My job entails taking care of female dependents

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in active duty,

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and for women's health so that includes obstetrical care

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and gynecological care.

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So I joined the army when I was 18, right out of high school

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and I did personnel administration specialist,

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which is basically just doing the pack office which is

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all the TDY's and leaves and taking accountability

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of where personnel work.

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I did three years in the army active duty.

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I got out, and got married, had my son, went to school.

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And got commissioned in the army reserves

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but midway in my junior year of nursing school

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I really wanted to come back on active duty

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but it was right after the Gulf War and the army was really

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dialing down on personnel.

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So I got an army reserve commission which I did

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at Water Leave for about a year.

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And then I went to a conference and met

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some Air Force nurses.

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And they are like, you should come to the Air Force.

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So I went to an Air Force recruiter that Monday

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and 22 years later that's where I ended up.

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My most memorable time in the Air Force during

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my deployment to the Cassim in Germany.

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That was a pretty significant time in my career.

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It was taking care of our wounded warriors

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and it was just an amazing assignment because we actually

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put all the skills that we learned throughout

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my whole career and all my nursing skills.

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So I retired in 2014 from Peterson Air Force Base

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and finding a job as a woman's health nurse practitioner

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was actually not that easy.

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At Madigan, when I sent in my resume they pretty much called

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me within an hour.

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And it makes sense.

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I mean I retired that women's health.

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I knew the system.

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I knew also the charting system and I knew the population.

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And I really wanted to stay working

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with the military population.

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It hasn't really been a super difficult transition

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because I'm still doing the same thing I did

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in the Air Force.

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But I miss my Air Force peeps for sure.