Deborah Congdon

DeborahCongdon enlisted in the United States Army in 1991 as a Spanishlinguist. She attended basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolinaand subsequently received linguistic education at the DefenseLanguage Institute (DLI) in Monterey, California. Mrs. Congdonattended advanced technical training (ATI) at Goodfellow AFB, TXwhere she received the distinguished Commander's STRAC award and wasthen sent to her first duty assignment in Colon, Panama. Deborahspent 2 years in Panama and was then reassigned to Kelly AFB in SanAntonio, TX. In 1995 she received an honorable discharge from theArmy and focused her attention on academic efforts. Upon separation,Deborah Congdon had received multiple awards to include the Armyaccommodation medal and the Army achievement medal. In 1998, Mrs.Congdon decided to rejoin the Army as a reservist and retrained as acombat medic. After one year, she transferred to the New York AirNational Guard as a medical technician and focused on completing herBachelor's degree in Nursing. In 2001, Deborah was commissioned tothe rank of first lieutenant and joined the officer corps. 2002brought relocation for the family and Mrs. Congdon transferred to theFlorida Air National Guard. She continued to advance in rank and in2005 was promoted to Captain. In 2009 Deborah Congdon washand-selected to attend Squadron Officer School (SOS) in residence atMaxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. In 2011, Mrs. Congdonvolunteered to deploy to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.During her deployment she directly impacted mission success andcontributed to a 100% survival rate of all American soldiers treatedin country. Later that year, she was promoted to the rank of Majorand given duties and responsibilities commiserate thereof. She wasthe only nurse practioner in the state of Florida selected tofunction as a provider on the highly visible CERF-P (CBRNE EnhancedResponse Force Package) mission and played a vital role in all areasof patient care with the 125th Medical Group. In 2013 she was one ofnine Majors in the United States of America chosen to attend ACSC(Air Command and Staff College) in residence. In August 2015 MajorDeborah Congdon will retire from the military after serving hercountry faithfully for more than 20 years.