SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. — The
moment Khennan Richards knew he needed to turn his life around came when he learned his younger brother was trying to join his gang.
Richards,
an Airman 1st Class with the 375th Force Support Squadron, said he didn’t want
that type of lifestyle for his brother. Seeing his brother starting to head down the
same dangerous path made him realize he needed to set a better example for his
younger siblings.
“I did
some things I’m not proud of,” Richards explained. “I’m happy that I got away
from that environment because it wasn’t leading me anywhere positive.”
Richards, his mom and three siblings bounced from
home to home; at times they lived with grandparents or out of their car. They
received both food stamps and Section 8 housing, both government programs designed to help low-income individuals with basic
food and shelter needs.
“My
childhood was rough,” Richards said. “My mom was a single parent raising four kids with me being
the oldest ... I was always accountable for them. My mom was
struggling trying to raise us by herself. I remember we eventually got an
apartment but we didn’t have any food in the refrigerator. We ate bread and
syrup ... or syrup sandwiches.”
Growing up, Richards was surrounded by gang members and it wasn’t long before
he joined one himself.
“I
kind of just adapted to my environment and basically blended in to it,” he said. “We stayed right in the middle of the ‘hood,’ and so I knew everybody
and everybody knew us. They’d call when they were walking by the house and say
‘what’s up auntie’ because they would call my mom auntie.”
When he decided to leave the gang, his took the advice of friends who had served in the Air Force and decided to join.
Since joining the Air Force, Richards has been successfully working in the
Official Mail Center and is responsible for processing an average of 323,000
pieces of mail and over 250 pounds in packages each year.
“Airman Richards is a
floor lead here at the official mail center, which means we have given him more
responsibility than his duty title holds,” said Staff Sgt. Corey Alexander Bratcher, Richards’s supervisor. “During
the time I’ve supervised him he has been the go-to Airman, he still processes
and delivers mail just like all the other Airmen here, but he is the (liaison)
between the Airmen in the shop and the noncommissioned officers.”
Bratcher
said Richards is someone who leads by example.
“Airman
Richards embodies the Air Force’s core values by being an example to all the
Airmen in the OMC,” Bratcher said. “He definitely has the ability to become a
great supervisor one day and with his ‘service before self’ attitude, he will
definitely continue to be someone who is valued.”
Richards
said he hopes to complete his enlistment and achieve the rank of technical
sergeant in the next five years. He aspires to be the best leader he
can be for his siblings and his future Airmen, which is something he said the
Air Force is helping him to achieve.
Ricahrd's committment hasn't gone unnoticed by his family either. His younger brother, once on the verge of joining a gang, is now a honor roll student with hopes of joining the Air Force ... just like his big brother.