Col. Lara Morrison took over as commander of the 914th Air Refueling Wing at the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station in February of this year. The first woman to assume command there, Morrison’s military career spans more than three decades.
She spoke with WBFO about her historic new role, her leadership style and the person that inspired her to join the Air Force.
“I would rather focus on being the commander and serving the men and women of this organization and male or female is an aside. I just want to be the 914th Air Fuel and Wing Commander and serve my airmen,” Morrison said.
Part of serving the airmen is being an adequate leader. With over three decades of military experience, Morrison is qualified to do so.
She said her leadership style focuses on transparency.
“I am a very transparent leader. I am transparent about my goals. I am transparent on how we are going to get there," Morrison said. "That doesn’t mean that I can explain every single detail about every single decision, but because I respect my airmen and I work to be a credible leader every day, I try to be as transparent as I can with them.”
As a pilot, Morrison spoke about her experience flying airplanes throughout her career.
“So I have flown two, predominantly two airplanes in my career," she said. "I started out in the KC-135 [Stratotanker] which is what the 914th Air and Refueling Wing flies today. That is a very different mission and a very different airplane from the C-17 Globemaster, which I’ve flown about six or seven years ago and I was based in Charleston [South Carolina]. Very different missions, one is an air refueling asset, the other one is an airlift asset, so one passes fuel to other airplanes in the air and the other one’s primary mission, and that is the C-17 is to haul people and cargo in and out of places around the world.”
Speaking on the differences between the two aircrafts, Morrison said the airlift missions are the most rewarding.
“I haven’t been on very many of them. I did do one year ago that was amazing," she said. "We took a guy that had been very very badly hurt with what’s called a [Critical Care Air Transport Team] and the CCATT team actually has a flight surgeon on it and a full dedicated team of personnel dedicated primarily to that patient because they’re in critical condition. We took him out of a down-range location back to Landstuhl, back to Germany, and got him the care he needed. It’s an amazing mission. It really is. It’s very very fulfilling.”
Morrison said you don’t have to be a pilot to join the Air Force.
“I cannot think of a job, as a matter of fact, I know there’s not a job in the United States Air Force, in the Air Force Reserves, that a woman can’t do. I would encourage both girls and boys, men and women to look at how you can take the skills that you have in your day to day jobs and come in and serve your country in either the Air National Guard or the Air Force Reserves," she said, "and if you want to make it your full-time job, go see your recruiter for the Air Force.”
Morrison said it was her mother, a trailblazer herself, who inspired her to join the military. Lt. Col. Karen Anderson was a single mother to Morrison and her brother when she decided to join the military as a second job to provide for her children. Anderson enlisted at a time when there weren’t many women in the military.
“She absolutely is the reason why I’m in the military. I followed directly in her footsteps," Morrison said. "So she was a member. She retired out of the Washington International Guard and the first organization that I went into was the Washington International Guard, so I was considered a legacy in the Washington International Guard and I was watching her and the things that she did and the opportunities that she was presented and made the most of that made me want to go in and serve.”