Staff Sgt. Kina Flye

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ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  Staff Sgt. Kina Flye is a unit training manager with the 413th Flight Test Group at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. She is responsible for overseeing compliance of training standards within the unit.

Flye began her military career in 2003 when she joined the active-duty Air Force as a surveillance technician. After a four-year break in service, she joined the Air Force Reserve in 2010 and served with the 413th Aeromedical Staging Squadron as a mental health technician. She held that position for nearly eight years before cross training and taking her new position last month.

One of Flye’s passions outside of the military is mentoring the youth. She’s currently a first grade religious education teacher, and she’s heavily involved with Parent Teacher Organizations at schools. She’s also a volunteer at various scouting organizations where she teaches basic skills such as cooking and budgeting.

Flye said she takes part in so many children development programs, because kids are our future, and it’s important to help give them good guidance and a positive outlook on life. In addition to that, she said there’s a personal connection with the kids when she helps them learn something new.

“That is just the most wonderful feeling in the whole world,” she said. “When they just get it, and even better, when they apply it on their own. To a degree, I kind of get attached to the kids and adopt them as my own. So when they get it, it always feels like they’re my children. I get just as excited for them as if they were mine—as if I birthed them.”

One of Flye’s scouts recently got accepted into the Naval ROTC program at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, and when she heard the news, she was thrilled to share the moment with him and his family.

“When I found out, I cried of joy,” she said. “I was in tears with his mother, because I know it’s something he’s always dreamed of and something he’s worked towards.”

As of right now, Flye said she’s satisfied with her current position within scouting and would only accept a higher one if it truly benefited the children. However, she was recently offered to take over as director at Camp Benjamin Hawkins in Byron, Georgia. To that, she simply said, “We’ll see where God guides me on that one.”

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