Airman of Minot

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Micheal Richmond
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

Technical Sergeant Kayla Wilkinson of the 91st Missile Maintenance Squadron is the first woman since 1992 to hold the position of Missile Maintenance Team - Team Chief. Originally from Arlington, Ohio, Wilkinson became a member of Team Minot in November 2019.

How do you feel about being the first female MMT Team Chief in almost 30 years?

“I’m honored and it’s exciting that I got this opportunity,” said Wilkinson. “It’s a big responsibility but you just need to work hard and learn. Being the first woman in a while to hold this position makes me feel proud and hopefully that will inspire others. It’s a great job, I love being a team chief and it’s an honor to do it because not everybody gets to do it.”

The duties of an MMT Team Chief include managing a four-member team that goes out to perform missile maintenance at the Minuteman III silos, ensuring that the mission gets done correctly and safely.

What is your favorite part of the mission?

“Getting to work with my team because you can’t do the job alone,” said Wilkinson. “That’s why we have as many people as we do in different positions. We are a family, you’re close to your people, you have each other's backs and we’re all there (for each other) and we get the job done.”

To become an MMT Team Chief, you need to jump through multiple hoops and hurdles.

“I was a cage-woman (works inside the guided missile maintenance platform, does maintenance on the missile and coordinates with different sections of missile maintenance, both inside the silo and topside) before holding this position and that helped a lot in me knowing what’s going on with my guys and being aware of what’s going on out in the launch shute when we’re doing maintenance,” said Wilkinson. “You get trained on managing a team rather than doing maintenance. You need to get certified and have an interview with the flight and the commander as well just to make sure that you know your responsibilities and are ready to handle them.”

Military personnel and civilians are very intertwined in Minot, which Wilkinson says makes her feel welcomed and supported by the Minot community.

“The thing that I like most about my unit is the family aspect, having each other's backs,” said Wilkinson. “We all have one big goal and we do have different jobs and different things that we have to achieve to reach that one big goal. We have to work together, we can’t just go off on our own because we’re all working towards one thing. I feel like we all strive to do that, to make it as easy as we can on each other to accomplish our mission.”

“For the most part, the people here are really like your family and if you have fun doing the job and working together, it makes work more enjoyable,” said Wilkinson.

Wilkinson plans on continuing to support the mission as MMT Team Chief and is working towards obtaining a bachelors in graphic design and a masters in business management.

In her freetime, Wilkinson likes being outdoors and hiking, reading, playing video games and working on art for school.

Wilkinson hopes that her story will inspire people to drive towards accomplishing their goals and attain a willingness to learn. She also hopes her story will send an empowering message to women. “You can do it, whatever you want to, whatever you set your mind to,” said Wilkinson.