I have been a resident of San Tan Valley since 2007. Since Apr 2009, I have worked at the Central Arizona College's San Tan Center as a college advisor and more recently, as an instructor of healthcare classes. I retired from the United States Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2006; official bio is attached. I volunteer with the Joe Foss Institute, whose mission it is to inspire youth to be good Americans and citizens through presentations at K-12 schools.
Biography:
Lt Col Morris was born in Burlington, Vermont and graduated from the Essex Junction Educational Center in 1976. She attended Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, and graduated with an Associates Degree in General Business in 1978. She enlisted in the Vermont Air National Guard in May 1977 as a Medical Administrative Specialist. She then attended the University of Vermont and received a B.S. degree in Business Administration in 1983. In 1985, she received a direct commission into the Medical Service Corps and entered active duty in January 1987.
Lt Col Morris’ first assignment was as the Medical Squadron Section Commander of the 366th Medical Group, Mountain Home AFB, Id. She was also the Director, Personnel and Administration and Mobility Officer. While at Mt Home, she graduated from Golden Gate University with a Masters in Business Administration. In June 1989, she went to Zaragoza Air Base, Spain, where she was assigned to the 406th Tactical Fighter Training Wing Clinic as the Director, Resource Management. She was instrumental in setting up a Mobile Air Staging Facility in support of Operation Desert Storm. In Aug 1991, she headed to Wiesbaden Medical Center in Germany as the Administrator of Ambulatory Services. Shortly after arriving, it was announced the Medical Center was on the closure list, but during her stay, she was involved with the repatriation of the last hostages from Lebanon. In Sept 1992, she got on the autobahn and headed west to Sembach Air Base to the newly activated 601st Regional Support Group, responsible for managing geographically separated units, which included five contingency hospitals and collocated operating bases scattered across northern Europe. Due to the ongoing drawdown in Europe and closure of all contingency hospitals, this assignment was short, but not before logging lots of airline miles all over Europe, for business, of course. In Apr 1994, she was selected as the Medical Readiness Fellow, Headquarters USAFE Office of the Command Surgeon. After the fellowship, she was the Chief of Medical Plans and Operations until March 1997. While assigned to USAFE, she had many wonderful opportunities, but none was more exciting than the MEDFLAG exercise in Mali, Africa. It was time to leave Europe as she was selected to be the first full-time Medical Readiness instructor for the Health Services Administration Course at Sheppard AFB, Texas. She also taught the Medical Readiness Planner’s Course and then was assigned as the Course Supervisor for the Medical Red Flag course in Aug 1998. In Sep 1999, she was reassigned to the Aerospace, Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Center at Langley AFB, Virginia. She was the Chief of Sustainment Operations for Agile Combat Support. During this assignment, she deployed as the Theater Medical Planner for Operation Southern Watch as part of Joint Task Force, Southwest Asia from Nov 2000 to Mar 2001. Shortly after she returned from her deployment, she received the call most people in the Air Force hope and pray for… a call about an assignment to Hawaii. As you can imagine, she accepted the assignment without hesitation and in June 2001, she was reassigned to Hickam AFB and the Office of the Command Surgeon Headquarters PACAF as the Chief, Medical Plans and Operations. After an exciting 4 years, she made her final move to Randolph AFB, Texas, where she assumed her current position as the Chief, Expeditionary Medical Operations Division, Office of the Command Surgeon, Headquarters AETC.
