AETC First Faces: Staff Sgt. Juliana White

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  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  A clank of metal against metal followed by the slick sound of the large plate sliding toward the center of the bar. The bar is pushed through the air and held still for a moment.

Slowly being lowered, the bar now hovers above White. Sweat building with each repetition.

Staff Sgt. Juliana White, 14th Comptroller Squadron Financial Manager, has used weight lifting to get rid of her daily stressors and now is turning back to the competitive side of the weight lifting community after some time away.

Growing up, White took a lot of responsibilities at younger ages. She grew up in a single parent home with an older sister who helped take care of White as much as she could.

“My mom wasn’t around a lot, so normally it was just me and my sister,” White said. “I took care of the house, I had to step up and cook and clean.”

Later, when she was old enough, White got a job. Around that same time, her older sister had a child, and White was left to work for herself.

“At about 14, I started doing odd jobs and working to get things done on my own,” White said. “Soon after that my mom came around and we got a house together, and it worked like that until I left.”

There are many things that helped White achieve what she has now. She attributes a lot of her success to her stability now.

“There are so many reasons why I joined the Air Force, but it mainly was the stability,” White said. “I didn’t have that as a kid at all. It sounds really cliché but there was some points where you didn’t know where a next meal would come from.”

When faced with the stress and hardships of a teenager, White found high school sports to be a good outlet. That outlet has continued to relieve stresses and help White advance professionally and personally.

“They make all of the student athletes go to the weight room, you don’t have a choice,” White said. “I was working out for softball when one day the football coach saw me and asked me if I had ever tried weight lifting.”

That was a turning point for her and once she had started, she was there to weight lift, not for softball.

“My first competition I got gold, you win that kind of big medal and you just want to keep going,” White said.

Physical Training is just another mandatory activity for some Airmen, but for White, it is a way to forget about anything negative and clear her head.

“You go through the workday and all the stressors through the day, and you just let it all out,” White said. “It doesn’t bother anyone and it keeps you sane.”

Recently passing her 5th year mark in the Air Force, White will continue to be lifting at the base gym and started to work on dieting.

She has also started specifically working to build back up for weight competitions and is working to compete within the year.