Germantown native Steven
Sartain is one of the founding
officers of the very first and
only Veterans of Foreign
Wars Posts in Australia.
Mount Hawthorn Post 12163 was chartered
on May 7 and made history as being
the first VFW Post chapter created in
Australia. As
part of the
VFW
Department of
Pacific Areas,
the Post is able
to provide support
for all
American
Veterans and
their families.
Graduating
from
Germantown
High School in
1992 and
Auburn
University in
1998, Sartain
joined the U.S.
Air Force in
April 2001 and
received his
Officer
Commission as
a Second
Lieutenant in
September
2001.
Major Sartain
served a majority
of his 14
year service flying as an Instructor on
HC-130P Combat King Search and
Rescue (CSAR) aircraft.
He would serve on many deployments
flying over 30 combat and combat support
sorties in support of Operation
Enduring Freedom, Combined Joint Task
Force - Horn of Africa and numerous
exercises/missions in the Middle East,
Africa, Central & South America, Europe
and Pacific theaters.
In the U.S. Gulf Coast, Major Sartain
flew numerous rescue missions supporting
humanitarian efforts during the aftermaths
of hurricanes Katrina, Rita, & Ike
earning three Humanitarian Medals and
contributing to over 1,100 rescues over
the disaster-stricken cities of New
Orleans, La. and Galveston, Texas.
He also
served as
Airboss for
Joint Task
Force - Space
Transportation
System on 17
separate Space
Shuttle missions
for any
possible NASA
launch contingencies
of
Space Shuttles
Atlantis,
Discovery &
Endeavour.
In June
2011, Sartain
changed duty
station to the
713th Combat
Operations
Squadron at
Joint Base
Pearl Harbor-Hickam,
Hawaii serving
as Operations
Officer.
Originally
from
Germantown, he has currently been living
in Western Australia since 2009 with his
wife, Kym, and their two children, Joshua
and Benjamin.
When not working with veterans,
Sartain spends his time serving as
Chaplain for his Freemason Lodge
Kilwinning 849SC, and continues to work
in Rescue as the West Australian manager
of the State's Emergency Rescue
Helicopter Service.
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