Dyan Valentine:  

Dyan (Kieck) Valentine, USAF Veteran, Police Officer, Mom, Daughter, and Chef. Dyan moved to Naples at the age of 10 from Dumont, New Jersey and attended the 5th grade at Poinciana Elementary School, Naples, Florida. She attended East Naples Middle School and then Naples High where she was a clarinetist in the Golden Eagle Marching Band and Concert Band, all four years, under the direction of Mr. Jerome "Burr" Edwards and Mr. Robert Shaer. Her Senior year she took an extra music class and taught herself to play the Alto Saxophone. Dyan was also a Statician for the boys Freshman, JV, and Varsity Basketball teams, for three years, under the coaching of Mr. Smith (he taught math) and Mr. Barrel ? (name unsure - he was a really tall and skinny Science teacher. His first name could have been Bart.) She lettered all years for both band and basketball where she received her Letterman Jacket. She graduated June of 1988. She still plays clarinet and saxophone today and her 12 year old daughter is a clarinetist in the ENMS band. Dyan joined the United States Air Force her Junior year of high school on the Delayed Enlistment program while she was an Active Cadet member of the Naples Airport Chapter of Civil Air Patrol, under the command of Major W. Lee Lemasters; father of Jeff Lemasters - 1986 NHS graduate and drummer of the Golden Eagle Marching band and Retired USAF Spector Gunship Gunner. Dyan also took Cesna flying lessons through Civil Air Patrol for her pilots license. After graduation Dyan went to Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas and remained there for her Technical Training at the Secuirty Police Academy specializing in Law Enforcement. She is a Marksman Shooter on both the 9mm handgun and M-16 Rifle. Her second training school was at Fort Dixx Army Base in Wrightstown, New Jersey for Air Base Ground Defense (ABGD), ground combat training school. This is where she experienced the "Gas Chamber" or shall we say "SNOT Chamber" for the first time and coined the phase, "If it's not RAINING, we're not TRAINING! Hu-Rah!" After a brief trip home Dyan was off to Vandenberg AFB in Lompoc, California guarding Top Secret and Highly Sensitive aeronautics like the Space Shuttle. Sunny or should we say, "Foggy and Devil Worshiping" central California, just above Santa Barbara; is where she lived for the next three years and then a move overseas to Osan Air Base in Songton-Si, Republic of South Korea (ROK); not many miles from where the actual Korean War was fought. Korea is where Dyan learned how to shop (which came in handy on the East Asian desert and European deployments where gold is real cheep and even THEY take Visa; drink & party like Jungle-Juice, White-Dogs, Oscar Champagne, and tons of Soju. Oh! and once again "Suck Rubber" on a bi-weekly basis while the air horns and attack sirens are going off with the enemy comming through the rice fields and thick brush while everyone is yelling "Gas!, Gas!, Gas!" Dyan spoke fluent Hangungmal or Hangul after that crazy tour and had a much greater respect than she already had for prior veterans of wars but especially the Vietnam Vets. And had the honor of being selected for a small group to represent Osan AB in Soule, Korea to meet with then Vice President George Bush Sr. Dyan was scheduled to be stationed at Homestead AFB in Miami, Florida after Korea but Hurricane Andrew destroyed the military installation and the entire town; so off to Georgia she went. She also speaks some Italian, Spanish, French, and Arabic. From 1992 until 1998, Dyan was stationed at Moody AFB in Valdosta, Georgia and deployed to the Middle East and Europe several times over the years. Prince Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base,(where Desert Shield/Desert Storm was fought) near Kuwait City, Kuwait. guarding the Stealth aircraft; with time spent at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia; Shaikh Isa Air Base, Bahrain where she worked on a special team assigned to a vehicle bomb checkpoint that controlled all acces of both vehicles and personnel attempting to gain access to the installation; with time spent at Manama Navy Base in Manama, Bahrain. The plus to this assignment was that now she was a trained 203-Granade Launcher Gunner and her days of humping the pavement were practically over - it was seat assignments in the Humvee, passenger side or "shot gun". Good that's where the heater was! Stayed warm on those cold desert nights. :) She was also selected to represent the Security Forces Squadron as main Gate Guard for the base visit and tour by Vice President Dick Cheney; who was then Secretary of Defense. She was also available when United Nations (UN) Leader Kofi Annan made a visit. Next deployment was to San Vito Air Base located in the southwestern (heal of the boot) of Italy in the town of San Vito de Normandy on a Joint Task Force/Special Forces Mission for the Bosnia-Herzegovina (Croatian War); with time spent at the Naval Station in Naples, Italy and Curfu, Greece, and had a wonderful trip to the Amalfi Coast dinning at a 5-Star hotel/restaurant. She also enjoyed the meal nd atmosphere at the Grotto Palazzese, which is a restaurant inside a cave in Polignano a Mare in the southern region of Bari Apulia, Italia. Also a unforgetable journey and experience on a tour of the destruction from Mount Vesuvius in the Bay of Naples in Pompeii, Italy. Not everything was a vacation because everyone was actually there to aid in the war. Not everyone that originally arrived together left alive together. There were some casualties and some fatalities. She worked with t...Expand for more