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b"Welcome to episode 14 of the Women of the Military Podcast. Today\\u2019s guest is Kris Newton.\\nKris spent 14 years in the Air Force both active duty and Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) in the reserve. When she got out, she earned my Bachelor of Science in Microbiology at Bowling Green State University. She has worked in Food Safety since until recently when she took a sales position that allows her to be her son's high school hockey team manager.\\nKris enlisted into the Air Force after high school. She had a twin sister and a half brother who was six months older than her and she knew her parents couldn\\u2019t afford to send three kids to college. She had debating on taking a year off and saving up money for college, but ended up joining the military instead. \\nShe had wanted to be part of the medical career field, but the job she wanted required a long wait before a spot would open up. Worried she would chicken out and not join the military if she had to wait so long, she enlisted without a job declared and ended up being assigned to Security Forces.\\nThree years into her military service she was given the opportunity to cross train into a new job. She tried to get into the medical career field again, but was unsuccessful and instead cross trained to become a paralegal. \\nWhile she was a paralegal she switched from active duty to an IMA. She joined the military to be able to pay for college and with her time and service and the GI Bill she was able to go to school and get her degree. The flexibility of the IMA program worked great with her college schedule and she was able to do things she hadn\\u2019t been a part of while on active duty. \\nShe talked about the struggle of being a military spouse and how she was looked at differently when she wasn\\u2019t in her uniform. She specifically talked about a struggle she had with housing where she was not given a chance to talk and only when her husband spoke the housing officer listened to the concerns. She was still serving in the military in the Reserves, but was assumed to be a spouse and was treated disrespectfully. \\nAre you considering joining the military? Check out my free guide: A Girl's Guide to Military Life \\nWould you like to be a guest on a future episode of Women of the Military? Sign up here."