Applewhite retires after 21 years in security forces

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Ryan Labadens
  • 403rd Wing Public Affairs

Master Sgt. Lucas Applewhite, 403rd Security Forces Squadron senior active reservist and security forces action officer, retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve June 2, 2018, after serving in the military for 21 years, all of which were with the Air Force and security forces.

Even before joining the military, Applewhite knew he wanted to be in law enforcement, and serving in security forces is how he wanted to be able to do that while serving his country.

He enlisted in the Air Force April 2, 1997, and since then he has served in various locations around the globe. He was stationed overseas for his two initial permanent duty assignments, first at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom, and then at Thule Air Base, Greenland. He also was stationed at Forward Operating Base Speicher, Iraq, from October 2004 to April 2005 as part of the 1058th Gun Truck Detachment, and deployed on several other occasions to Pakistan, Italy and France.

Stateside, Applewhite is no stranger to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He was stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, with the 81st Security Forces Squadron on two separate occasions: once from September 2000 to October 2004, and then again from April 2005 to November 2009. In December of 2009, Applewhite joined the Air Force Reserve 403rd Security Forces Squadron, where he served in an Active Guard Reserve position for the squadron.

Over the course of his career, Applewhite served in many security forces roles, such as security response team leader, combat arms instructor, and noncommissioned officer in charge of security forces armory, combat arms and personnel security, to name a few.

Despite the many places he traveled and many assignments he held over the years, Applewhite said the main thing that kept him in the security forces field throughout his career was the people.

“We just have good people, and of course at the end of the day, the people are always the reason why you stay,” said Applewhite, who hopes to continue working in the law enforcement arena even after his retirement.

At the retirement ceremony, which was officiated by Maj. Charles Mottram, former commander of the 403rd SFS from September 2015 to November 2017, the major spoke of how much he enjoyed having Applewhite serve with the security forces squadron and praised his many accomplishments while there.

“It has been a pleasure of mine to see you grow professionally and personally over these last few years. You have personally taken this unit to a level never seen before. Furthermore, you specifically created events, experiences and memories for Airmen that will be spoken about for years to come,” said Mottram, addressing Applewhite at the ceremony. “You have shown Airmen and others that nothing worth fighting for comes easy, and sometimes the hardest things in life worth fighting for have the best rewards.”

After all of his years of service in the Air Force, there is one main impression that Applewhite said he hoped he was able to make during his time in security forces.

“What I hope to leave behind is a culture that enables them [security forces members] to expand their capabilities, to go out and make the unit a better place – a place where they won’t just want to meet the requirements, but exceed requirements,” said Applewhite. “There are a lot things that we did – like the air assault school, all the exercises we did and the training we pulled off – all to make our people into  better Airmen so that they can go downrange and execute the mission.”