Chief comes from humble beginnings Published June 20, 2014 By Staff Sgt. Patrick Harrower 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Every service member must complete some form of basic training before they enter the military. Most find it a stressful, grueling time when they learn to operate on little sleep and be part of a team of people with varying personalities. "I remember saying to myself, 'This is great. I hope they keep me here,' when I was in boot camp," said Chief Master Sgt. Ericka Kelly, 349th Air Mobility Wing command chief. "Basic training was actually peaceful compared to where I came from. We had food, a place to sleep and great people." The oldest of three children, Kelly came from extremely humble beginnings in Guatemala. With her family being poor, she was no stranger to dirt floors, no electricity or running water and wearing the same clothes for days at a time. Her mother was young and desperately wanted to make a new start in the Unit- ed States, but could not afford to have the rest of her family find out or they would try to stop her, so her mother locked her and her siblings in a room and fled to America. "I was only 5 at the time," Kelly said. "She left us some eggs and water. I didn't know how to cook eggs, but I had seen the adults do it enough times to figure it out." The children were in the room for 5 days before their grandmother routinely came to check on them. But she did not find them. "'Grandma we're in here,' I yelled but she didn't hear me," she said. "She left without finding us and I lost all hope. The reality hit me that we would all die together in that room." Another two days passed and the grandmother re- turned with multiple relatives and discovered them. Kelly lived with her grandmother until she was 12 and a massive earthquake in her area made international news. Her mother had already married and had a daughter in America when she saw the devastation on television and decided to return to check on her family. "My mother saw the conditions her children were living in and decided she would take us back to America with her," Kelly said. "Her husband had no idea she even had kids." After a stint in Compton, California, they wound up in Las Vegas. "Life at home was very dysfunctional," she said. "I had to start working the fields and cleaning hotel rooms at 13 to help out with the family. In 10th grade, I dropped out to work full time." After moving in with a family she met through work, Kelly went back to school, doubling up on night courses so she could graduate on time. "Thank God for good teachers and friends who didn't force me to go to school, but pointed out to me that there was a better road to take with education," she said. "I had other options in life." After seeing a commercial for the Air Force Reserves, she decided what she wanted to do in life. "'That's it. That's for me,' I said to myself," she said. **Editor's note: This is the first in a three-part series on Chief Master Sgt. Ericka Kelly.