MARTINSBURG, W.Va. –
Master Sgt. Jennifer Blood is the installation emergency manager for the 167th Airlift Wing. She has served in the unit for 15 years.
As the emergency manager she and her staff are responsible for training and preparing the wing’s Airmen for emergency response to a vast array of situations, from natural disasters to wartime environments.
“She has been a high energy emergency management team member and shop lead, always pushing to do what is required to ensure success for the squadron and wing,” said Maj. Emerson Slack, Deputy Base Civil Engineer.
Slack noted Blood’s work ethic and dependability and said she developed and executed wing level Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) training program, coordinating between groups and reporting status updates to the wing.
“She will typically stay for long hours outside her normal schedule to ensure mission success no matter what tasking she is working on,” Slack said.
Blood originally hails from Moscow, Kansas, and has an associate degree in Emergency Management and Fire Science, and has earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in emergency management.
She is an identical twin and has fraternal twin children. She said she is most proud of her family and the wonderful young adults her children have and continue to become.
Her hobbies include fitness, running, reading and enjoying time (and sometimes drinks) with her family and friends.
Blood said she aspires to “become a chief master sergeant in the Air National Guard and leave this place having reached the most people possible with the most positive impact I am able to give.”
She has traveled to South Korea to support wartime exercises and Guam to support the multi-nation training event, Silver Flag. She ranks these experiences as the most exciting of her career.
Blood shared two valuable lessons she has learned in her career. “I don’t know everything and I never will, lean on others for the knowledge they have and share with them my own knowledge. Also, people thrive in safe environments. Create that environment anytime you can.”
To the newest Airmen in the Wing, Blood offers this advice: “Take pride in all the things you do: big or small. You’ve made a big decision and it can become the most rewarding if you give it everything you’ve got.”