Dry retires after more than 34 years' service

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Vicky Spesard
  • 123rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
KENTUCKY AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, LOUISVILLE, Ky. --  Chief Master Sgt. Victor Dry officially retired with more than 34 years of honorable service to the United States Air Force and Air National Guard during a ceremony here March 6.

Dry, the chief enlisted manager for the 123rd Communications Flight, was presented with the Meritorious Service Medal, first oak leaf cluster, from his commanding officer, Capt. Leslie Brooks.

"My time with chief has been very short," said Brooks, who has been his supervisor for the past three years. "He has definitely challenged me as an individual, as an officer, and helped me grow. Thank you, on behalf of the communications flight, for your time and your service to the country."

During the ceremony, Dry made a presentation of his own: white roses, with a single red rose in the middle, to his wife, Shelli.

"The red rose is a symbol of all the times your heart bled while you worried what I was doing and when I was coming home," the chief said to his wife. "The white roses symbolize the pureness of love that you have given me and the shield you have placed around your heart so that I would not know that you worried."

After entering active-duty service to the Air Force in 1981, Dry was assigned to Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, followed by overseas duty in the United Kingdom. He then returned to the United States to perform joint duties with the United States Navy in Norfolk, Virginia.

Upon completing his joint assignment there, Dry left the active-duty Air Force and became a member of the Kentucky Air National Guard in January 1991. He served in many communications positions here, deployed to Afghanistan and ultimately rose to the rank of chief.