Retired Air Force Sergeant served 20 years as a medical technician

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Working in aerospace medicine and as a nationally registered EMT, Sergeant Derrick Judkins traveled the world, assisted surgeons, and treated our nation’s wounded. He was deployed to Operation Desert Storm, Operation Desert Shield, to multiple campaigns in between.

After scoring high on the Air Force Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test, young Derrick Judkins saw being a medical technician as his ticket out of Detroit.

“I was ready to get out of Detroit at the time, so I says, ‘You know what, I’m going to go the non-traditional.’ College… Military… So, I went military. And it was the best decision I ever made, to be honest with you,” said Judkins.

His 20-year military career began with basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. He was stationed in Omaha when his unit was deployed to the Gulf War.

“I call him ‘Big George,'” Judkins said of President George H. W. Bush. “Yeah, that was the first one. Desert Storm, and that’s when they sent us over in the sandbox. That was when I guess you’d be saying things get real.”

Judkins said a contingency hospital was set up behind the front lines.

“Where we were stationed at, we weren’t directly in the line of fire, but we were in a position where we were taking care of the individuals that may have been injured or what have you,” said Judkins.

During a six-year stint at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Judkins treated wounded soldiers in a hyperbaric chamber.

“They put us in a chamber because the increased amount of oxygen is healing,” explained Judkins. “Like every other week or so, we were getting in with patients that needed wound care or wound therapy.”

Judkins picked up a few unique skills while working as a medical technician.

“I was asked, ‘How many jobs have you had?’ Even just in the military… aerospace medicine, public health, Honor Guard. I’ve caught mosquitoes when the West Nile virus was going. That was part of public health. Man, I can identify a female mosquito and a male mosquito. All of that stuff made a difference in that little piece of the job. It was integral to the mission at hand,” said Judkins.

His last assignment was a stop at McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita in 2007, where he worked in public health. 

So, what was the most rewarding part of Judkins’ military career?

“The Honor Guard. Honor Guard was the most rewarding to me because that was a memory that you were leaving with the family. Maybe the last time seeing their loved one in a military state like that. Whether it be an active-duty funeral or retirement. That satisfaction or the gratification that you get from folding that flag and getting down on one knee and starting off ‘On behalf of the United States of America.’ That was big to me because it was something that you had to look at that person or that next of kin in their eye, and you saw that, and they were so appreciative of that. So, that was huge to me,” said Judkins.

Judkins retired from McConnell AFB at age 38, and he settled in Wichita. Now, he works as a clinical liaison for a long-term care company.

If you want to nominate a veteran for our Veteran Salute, email KSN reporter Jason Lamb at [email protected].