Airman serves country, relies on faith

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications

 A mere 4,493 miles from home in Spangdahlem, Germany, Staff Sgt. Lexi Vander Woude is serving her country in the U.S. Air Force, but she is never far from her Catholic faith.

 Vander Woude, Storm Lake native and 2017 graduate of Storm Lake St. Mary High School, is the NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge) of the combat intelligence cell, supervising a crew of six to eight airmen at Spangdahlem Air Base.

 “Our mission out here is that we support the F-16s, which are fighter jets. We provide intelligence to them as well as to the wing leadership, our base commander, of any kind of threats in the area or updates to geopolitical situations,” she explained. “I love my job.”

Her first interest in a career in the military was in fourth grade when she saw a television commercial where a young woman informed her parents that she wanted to join the Army. The parents didn’t take the news well.

 “I saw her jumping down from a helicopter and running around in her gear. I thought I could do that. I’m a tomboy. I beat up boys on the playground,” she said, noting she soon informed her parents of her future plans to serve in the military. “I expected a dramatic reaction. Mom said, ‘Join the Marines, they’re tougher.’”

With the encouragement and support of her parents, she joined the Air Force shortly after high school graduation and completed basic training at Lackland Air Base in San Antonio. The new airman then received her technical training in San Angelo, Texas. Her first active duty assignment was at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina for three years.

 Working and living in the Air Force environment, Vander Woude realized she was no longer immersed in a Catholic community, attending weekend Masses with her family and attending a Catholic school.

“Once I joined the military, (the faith) wasn’t just put in front of me anymore or surrounding me anymore. I needed to put in more effort. I wasn’t making it to church like I used to … until I was stationed in Turkey,” she said.

She said at the time she left South Carolina for her first overseas experience in Turkey, her mother, Kari, was diagnosed with cancer.

“I knew I needed something to lean on and something to keep me sane while I had just left the only country I ever knew. It was my first time overseas and also being away from family (was difficult),” Vander Woude said, noting it was compounded by her mother’s illness.

 Turning to faith

She turned to the Catholic community on the military base for Mass and to volunteer. The airman served as the volunteer parish coordinator, working with lectors, hospitality ministers and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion in preparation for Masses.

“I really enjoyed it and got really close to the priest there,” the airman described her journey back to the faith.

Once assigned to Spangdahlem in November 2022, Vander Woude sought out the Catholic community on base to continue attending Mass and volunteering. As the role of a parish coordinator was already filled, the airman asked if there were other ways to be involved in the church.

 "Being involved keeps me going,” she said, noting the chapel Catholic community was seeking religious education coordinators and teachers. “At first, I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do because I’d never been an official teacher or anything like that. So, I thought about it. I knew my parents had done it so I thought I’d try and see how it goes.”

 Working as a “tag team,” the airman and Lynne Davis, former airman and military spouse, were charged with teaching the faith to five 8-year-olds preparing for their first Communion. With a strong Catholic upbringing, Vander Woude said she assumed she would be prepared to teach the faith to the second grade students, but found she needed to relearn a few topics.

 “It was really rewarding. There’s definitely a learning experience because you are seeing it from a different perspective. I’m no longer the one in those desks. I’m the one teaching it and it’s making me learn in the process as well,” Vander Woude said of the experience.

 The 8-year-olds recently received their first Communion with “Miss Lexi” as they called her, and Davis in attendance to share in the celebration. Vander Woude said she couldn’t help but recall her own first Communion.

 “Showing up to church that day and seeing them in their outfits I was reminded of when I was in that moment,” she reflected. “I remember the white dress, having the veil and not really understanding what was going on – and being nervous because we knew it’s important.”

 As a young person serving in the military thousands of miles from home, Vander Woude said she has found comfort in turning to her faith in difficult situations, including the death of her mother in December 2022.

 “It’s been a big grounding thing for me, especially through all the different moves, life changes and hardships – whatever it may be,” the airman said. “I think a big part of faith no matter where you are at, God is always going to be there for you. I’ve been blessed to be able to lean on God in (difficult) moments. That’s been one of my saving graces.”