Title	[Four female airmen by tank in Iraq, 2003]
Date	2003-05-09
Subject headings	United States--History--1969- United States--Armed Forces--African Americans
Era	War on Terror, OEF, OIF (2001-Present)
Service branch	Air Force Air Force--Air Reserves
Item description	U.S. Air Force members Howe, Ingrid Ruffin, Gina, and Katherine Mendez pose for a group photo in front of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle while they were stationed in Iraq in May 2003. The women are dressed in desert combat uniforms with boonie hats, and are carrying Meals, Ready-to-Eat [MREs] and water bottles.
Veteran's name	Ruffin, Ingrid Javonne
Veteran's biography	Ingrid Ruffin (b. 1979) of North Carolina served in the U.S. Air Force from 1999 to 2005 and in the Air Force Reserves from 2007 to 2010 . Ingrid Ruffin was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 20 March 1979, and raised in Ahoskie, North Carolina, and Durham, North Carolina. She graduated from Southern High School in Durham and attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) until 1999 when she enlisted in the air force . In September of 1999, Ruffin reported for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. After graduation in November, Ruffin was sent to technical school at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. In March if 2000, she was sent to Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where she worked in the Air Operations Center as a surveillance technician. In June of 2001, she was transferred to Keflavik Naval Air Station in Iceland. A year later, she was transferred to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany. In 2003, she was sent on temporary duty to Iraq. After four months, she returned to Germany, where she was stationed for another two years. She returned to Shaw Air Force Base before being discharged . After leaving the service, Ruffin used to GI Bill to complete her undergraduate degree in English at UNCG in 2007. She received in Masters in English at UNCG in 2009 and then a Masters of Library and Information Studies Library Studies in 2011. She is currently the Student Success Librarian for First Year Programs at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Place	Iraq
Type	image
Original format	photographs
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	WV0400 Ingrid Ruffin Papers
Rights statement	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional rights information	IN COPYRIGHT. This item is subject to copyright. Contact the rights holder noted above for permission to reuse.
Object ID	WV0400.6.048
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304 -- http://library.uncg.edu/
OCLC number	900814854

[Four female airmen by tank in Iraq, 2003]

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