It’s 2010 and Airman 1st Class Leonard James’ phone vibrates silently in his pocket; he quickly reaches down and sends the call to voicemail.
“I was in class and we weren’t supposed to have our phones,” the now staff sergeant recalls.
James was at Port Hueneme Naval Base, California, a technical training base for Airmen selected for vehicle maintenance career paths. The Air Force wasn’t what James planned for himself, but his high school sweetheart and fiancé, Mesha, was pregnant with their first child, McKenzie Harmony James, and he felt the Air Force would help him support his growing family.