BIDDLE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Pa. -- Chief Master Sgt. Lauren Paul, the 111th Force Support Squadron superintendent, was promoted from senior master sergeant to the highest enlisted rank during a ceremony on Saturday, May 1 at Biddle Air National Guard Base.
During the ceremony, Lt. Col. Brian Wilson, 111th Force Support Squadron commander, quoted Isaac Newton saying, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Paul gave credit to the shoulders she was able to stand upon – for the Airmen who have had the pleasure of working with Paul, she has been their shoulders.
“She’s an amazing mentor and an amazing person,” said Staff Sgt. Ameera Blake, 111FSS personnel specialist. “I am glad that she was there to cultivate everything and every skill that I know. I am grateful that she supports my ideas and never shuts me down, but encourages me to go forward.”
Paul says she has no unique story, she didn’t come from a military background.
“A recruiter came to my school, I heard education benefits, and I said ‘sign me up,’” laughed Paul. “I had every intention on doing six years and getting out, and then 9/11 happened, so for me, getting out was no longer an option.”
She never imagined that she would reach this height in her military career.
“Anybody lower ranking, believe that it can be you one day,” said Paul. “No matter what you think when you come in, no matter where your story starts, you can be here.”
Paul encourages Airmen to get involved and to strive for the best in all they do.
“If you know sergeant Paul and you know her drive, then you know she wants excellence and holds everyone around her accountable,” said Wilson. “Excellence isn’t that we’re perfect, but we must have perfect intent at getting there, and that’s the bar she sets.”