Susan E. Soto - U.S. Air Force 1983-92

Susan E. Soto, a proud Native American, was among the first boots-on-ground for the U.S. Military during Desert Storm. Arriving in Saudi Arabia and coordinating intelligence and monitoring aircraft movements for special operations. “We got to Saudi Arabia at 4 o'clock in the morning. They opened the doors to the plane. And I thought I had walked into an oven. It was that hot.” During her deployment Susan worked at King Fahd Airport under General Norman Schwarzkopf’s command.

One of the highlights of Susan’s career were meeting General Schwarzkopf, “when he came through, I could see why they called him the bear, because he was a huge man. I met him and I met General Colin Powell. He was very nice. That's when I was working in intelligence. And they both walked through and shook my hand and asked how I was doing.”

During her time in the Air Force Susan also had the distinguished honor of being one of the Honor Guards for Ellison Onizuka, who was one of the astronauts that was killed on the Space Shuttle Challenger. “I escorted his body along with my Honor Guard to his hometown on the Big Island and we stayed with the body until he was interred at Punchbowl in Honolulu.”

Today Susan works with Veterans on The Shinnecock Reservation in New York where she grew up. “I am in charge of the Veterans Committee on the reservation. I make sure that any veteran on the reservation gets all the benefits he's entitled to, he or she. I have yearly ceremonies both for Memorial Day and for Veterans Day.” Susan is also proud to have been the first Native American woman to be a commander of a VFW post on Long Island, Post 7009 in Southampton, NY.