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Statue That Pays Tribute to Female Vets on Display at Security Forces Museum

(Original article written by Rosalie Rayburn, Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer, 8 April 2018 and republished in the May-Jun 2018 Security Forces Magazine, pages 16-17.)

MSgt (ret) Judy Quintana escorted the Security Forces statue that pays tribute to female veterans to the Security Forces Museum on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on 2 January 2019 where it will remain non display until 24 April. who advised that she dropped off her "Woman Warrior" sculpture today at the SF Museum where it will stay until 24 April. After which the sculpture will next move to the AF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB for 3 months.

Quintana loved the 23 years she spent in the U.S. Air Force, believes passionately that women should get more recognition for their military service. She felt so strongly, that she decided to spend $23,000 of her savings to commission a life-size statue of herself in uniform. The “Woman Warrior” statue made by master sculptors Brett Chomer of Santa Fe and Quintana’s brother, Matthew Quintana, had its first public display March 10 at the dedication ceremony for the Women Veterans Monument in Las Cruces, NM.

Quintana, 47, a member of the Jicarilla Apache tribe, grew up in Dulce and Santa Fe. She went into the Air Force in 1988 at age 17 and chose security work because she could be outside. That path took her through basic training at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, to guarding an intercontinental ballistic missile facility at Whiteman AFB in Missouri. Next came a stint at RAF Alconbury, in England.