Military retirement

YORKTOWN, Va. – Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sonya Olechnowski, daughter of Rod and Ellie Randall of Winterport, will retire from military service on May 1.

Olechnowski joined the Air Force April 16, 1986. Her first assignment was RAF Lakeheath, England, where she was a member of the maternity nursing team. During that time, she enrolled in the Community College of the Air Force. She received the Air Force Achievement Medal at the end of that tour of duty.

In October 1989, she was assigned to the 554th Medical Group, Nelis AFB, Nevada. She received a second Achievement Medal during that time.

In May 1993, she was assigned to Incirlik AB, Turkey, where she earned staff sergeant stripes and her first Commendation Medal. While in Turkey, she gave birth to a daughter, Sequoia Nicole.

Olechnowski was assigned to the 56th Aerospace Medical Squardron at Luke AFB, Arizona, in August 1995, where she became an allergy-immunization technician. Her support of a regional allergist’s recertification program earned her a third Achievement Medal.

In 1999, Olechnowski returned to RAF Lakeheath, England, as an allergy-immunization technician. As the noncommissioned officer in charge of her own clinic, she implemented an immunization point of service throughout the hospital, the first of its kind.

She supported a bi-wing immunization program to include several Geographically Separated Units while supporting multiple smallpox immunization lines for thousands of personnel entering the European theater for downrange deployments. She was promoted to technical sergeant and earned a second Commendation Medal. She also completed a nursing degree and married Chief Master Sgt. Ben Olechnowski during her assignment.

A joint spouse assignment brought the couple to Langley AFB in June 2003 where Olechnowski ended her career where it began – in obstetrics and gynecology. She leaves the Air Force to become a full-time mother to 11-year-old Sequoia and 18-month-old Truman. The family lives in Yorktown, Va.

Advanced training

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Army Reserve Pvt. Bryan Miller has graduated from the light-wheeled vehicle mechanic advanced individual training course at Fort Jackson.

Miller, a 2005 graduate of Calvary Chapel Christian School in Orrington, is the son of Ron Miller of Old Town and Lisa Gagnon of Lyman.