(Back row, left to right) Staff Sergeant Kenneth Henkel, U.S. Air Force; Cadet Major Jeremy Henkel, U.S. Air Force; Staff Sergeant Colie J. Henkel, U.S. Air Force; Captain Allen Horsens, U.S. Air Force; (front row, left to right) Lisa Henkel; Major Colie T. Henkel, U.S. Air Force; Monica Henkel; and Captain Melissa Horsens, U.S. Air Force.

Lisa Henkel:
Living the Military Life

By Chip Cassano

Given UMUC's long history of service to the armed forces, it's no surprise that many UMUC staff and faculty members have ties to the military. But for Lisa Henkel, coordinator of UMUC's Andrews Air Force Base office, Regional Programs, those ties are especially strong.

Henkel's brother-in-law, Colie, led the way, rising to the rank of major in the U.S. Air Force. His younger brother, Ken—Henkel's husband—followed, and now serves as a staff sergeant in the Air Force. He recently returned from a three-month tour in the United Arab Emirates. And Henkel herself served nine years in the Air Force.

But there's more. Henkel's niece, Melissa, a captain in the Air Force, is stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, in Mississippi; Melissa's husband, Alan, also a captain in the Air Force, was stationed in California, and flew missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, piloting a KC-10 refueling tanker. Henkel's nephew Justin is a staff sergeant in the Air Force and recently returned from a three-month deployment in Saudi Arabia. Another nephew, Jeremy, is in the ROTC, and will be commissioned as an Air Force officer at the end of the school year.

Having family members scattered around the country and around the world can be stressful, Henkel admitted, especially in troubled times. But, at the same time, those family members serve as a support system for one another.

"So much of our family knows what the military lifestyle is like," Henkel said. "For my sister-in-law and me, it seems that first her husband is gone for awhile, then my husband is gone, so we know what it's like, and we can really lean on each other. And when my husband was deployed to the United Arab Emirates, his nephew was in Saudi Arabia. So even though they were both on the other side of the world, it was kind of comforting for my husband to know that his nephew was just across the Gulf."

And even though the military lifestyle can be taxing, it offers its share of benefits, as well.

"We've moved every two years for the past 10 years," Henkel said, "and that can be stressful, but, you know, I've seen the ruins of Antioch, and had a chance to travel to so many places and see so many things." Istanbul, in Turkey, where her husband was recently stationed for two years, was one of her favorites, Henkel said, thanks in part to UMUC.

"Istanbul is just a phenomenal city," Henkel said. "Ken and I are both history majors, and we were living and breathing what we were studying." Some of the instructors for UMUC–Europe were archeologists, working locally, who brought students with them on their digs.

"That's just an experience you can't get anywhere else," Henkel said.

Henkel is currently working on a Master of Distance Education at UMUC, and her husband is six credits from finishing his bachelor's degree in history. Again, they have the military to thank for it.

"Back in the 1980s while I was stationed in England, I had my first exposure to college through UMUC," Henkel said. "And in [my husband's] family, education was one of the foremost reasons that they joined the military. His brother, Colie, paved the way, and he showed the younger ones that it can be done—that you can give a lot to your country and, at the same time, get a lot back."

One of the things that you get back, Henkel said, is less tangible, but no less cherished.

"It's always nice to be part of the service and part of a service family when feelings of patriotism are running high in our country," Henkel said. "When you serve or have family members who are serving, it just makes you really proud."