COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Born in a foreign country then enlisting in the U.S. Army Reserves and later commissioning as a U.S. Air Force officer, this Airman has had quite the journey.
Maj. Eddy Gutierrez, the new 14th Communications Squadron commander, was born in Managua, Nicaragua and moved to the U.S. when he was 7 years old. He said his mother wanted to get away so he and his brothers would not be recruited into the Contra War. The war consisted of multiple rebellions against the Sandinista government.
“We grew up with nothing and now, here I am,” Gutierrez said. “When I was young, I remember climbing up this hill in Nicaragua and I saw a road for the first time. It wasn’t the road that caught me, it was a car that was driving along the road. Here I am barefoot and poor and to me it was a defining moment of ‘What is that? Why don’t I have that?”
In 1988, Gutierrez moved to New Orleans to be with his mother. Growing up, it was hard for him and his brothers to fit in. He said that diversity was a problem because he didn’t relate with any groups or cliques. He was also a part of the Air Force Junior ROTC program.
Between his junior and senior year of high school, Gutierrez enlisted in the Army Reserves and attended boot camp. He originally wanted to join the Air Force, but he was not yet a U.S. citizen.
“I originally went Reserves because I knew I wanted to do college,” Gutierrez said.
After he graduated high school, Gutierrez took a side job and worked a brief time, but eventually attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Still in the Army Reserves, he began to look in to their Air Force ROTC program.
“One day, there was a college fair happening and there was a ROTC booth, so I walked over there being curious,” Gutierrez said. “I talked to a few folks and decided to sign up
While he was at LSU, disaster struck when Hurricane Katrina hit. He and his roommate harbored their families in their small college dormitory.
“When Katrina hit, my now wife and I were getting married and lost everything we had,” Gutierrez said. “It doesn’t matter how much you plan, there’s going to be something that gets in the way but it turned out to be a blessing because we moved the wedding to Lafayette, Louisiana and it ended up being a big reunion of everyone who was spread out because of Katrina.”
Gutierrez received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 2006 and first duty station was at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. While at Incirlik AB, Gutierrez and his wife worked in the same office.
“My wife ended up being my squadron commander’s secretary,” Gutierrez said. “It was interesting because my squadron commander asked me if it was going to be a problem and I told him it wasn’t. Ever since then, we always seem to end up working together.”
Since his time in the Air Force, Gutierrez said his has seen firsthand how, not of the Air Force, but the Defense Department takes care of their people. Gutierrez’s has two brothers in the service. One brother joined the Marines and the other joined the Army.
In October 2010 Gutierrez was en route from New Orleans to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, when he got a call from his brother in the Army. His Marine twin brother had been deployed to Afghanistan as an infantryman, and was shot in the head and critically injured. Gutierrez was the one who informed their mother and worked with support agencies to get his family to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland to be with his brother in his time of need.
“He pretty much lost all of his motor and speaking skills, so he had to relearn all of that,” Gutierrez said. “Overall, from the wing commander down to the Semper Fi Fund unit, they all took care of us by making sure we were there with him during his recovery time.”
Gutierrez said that event showed him that it doesn’t matter if you’re a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or a Marine, the military will take care of you and your family. He said that the wounded warriors never complained about how they were injured or if they should have done something different, they just wanted to go back out there to help their brothers and sisters.
Coming from a humble background, Gutierrez said he has worked hard to give his family a better life than he had growing up.
“Over the years, I’ve learned that everything happens for a reason, and if you don’t try, you won’t go far,” Gutierrez said.