‘A Dream Job’
JHS Graduate Travels World Through Reserves, Work
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ROCHESTER -- One Jamestown High School graduate always dreamed of traveling the world growing up, but she never thought the opportunity would come through the military.
Years later, after many trips overseas and across the world, Michelle Messimer believes a conversation with U.S. Air Force recruiters opened her mind to what was achievable.
"I've had so many cool experiences, and I have to thank JHS for bringing recruiters in to talk to us," Messimer told The Post-Journal. "I think that single day probably changed my life."
Messimer, now a staff sergeant, graduated from JHS in 2006 and almost immediately enlisted in the Air Force. She served 10 years in active duty and now serves in the reserves as a communications, navigations and radar technician. But prior to conversations with recruiters, enlisting in the military was never a consideration for her.
"It all changed from there, and I decided that was the route I was going to take," she said. "I could go to cool places and have great adventures. I never thought of it growing up before, really. There are a lot of military people in my family but not any females. Also, I didn't have money for college and I knew that I would be in debt, and what better thing to do than answer the nation's call."
Currently, Messimer is a traveling field engineer for L3Harris Technologies, an electronics manufacturer in Rochester, while continuing her service in the Air Force. In her military role, she repairs radio units on air craft carriers that typically have eight different radios systems in one vehicle.
After completing 10 years of active-duty service, she believed it was time to step back a little.
"Yeah, it was a great, awesome adventure and after awhile you're just done with that lifestyle," she said of being active duty and frequently moving around as opposed to simply traveling.
However, she plans on remaining in the military for a total of 20 years with only seven years left. Admittedly, she's also remained in on a reserve basis because of the military "camaraderie."
"It's hard to give something like that up," she said.
While living in Rochester, she heard of a L3Harris. Messimer believes her joining the company was a perfect marriage with her military background.
"That's the main reason why I was hired because of my military background was in airborne avionics," she said of her hiring in 2016.
With the company, her travels across the globe have been expanded. Four times a year she travels to Poland to oversee repairs of a specific type of radio systems she referred to as Type-1 radios. Messimer is given security clearance authorization to repair the communications units as no one outside of the U.S. is allowed to work on them, she said.
Although she now lives in Rochester and travels outside the country frequently, Messimer still thinks of home.
When recalling the Jamestown area she is immediately reminded of Lucille Ball, the downtown area, Chautauqua Lake, the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua Regional Youth Ballet, and, most of all, her family.
When she visits now, she sees the changes that have come to the area in the last 14 years.
"Everything. It's been built up a lot," she said of what is different, adding that she wants to visit the National Comedy Center.
Before JHS, she attended Levant Christian School and then Falconer Central School prior to transferring to Jamestown her senior year.
Growing up, joining the military never crossed her mind, but traveling did.
"No, I had no idea. Never. Nope," she said on whether she ever thought about enlisting.
However, she added, "I always loved to travel when we did live in Jamestown. We would always go to Kinzua Dam, Panama Rocks and Ellicotville."
Her ambition for traveling played into the "best and worst decision" of joining the military, as she described it. While enjoying mostly every moment of her current career path, she admitted that leaving her family was difficult.
One family member she left, but one she has remained close with, is her mother, Tanya Messimer. And while being separated by distance, Tanya Messimer has remained proud of her daughter.
"She just amazes me with what she's done with her life, it's just like 'Wow,'" Messimer's mother said.
As part of the JHS graduate's employment with L3Harris, Messimer will travel to island country Barbados in January; to Poland -- again -- in February; to Vienna, Austria, in March; and to the Czech Republic in April. All of her travels come before an Air Force deployment to a currently undetermined location in July.
When she was younger, she dreamed of traveling to somewhere in Italy or Paris, France. While she has yet to make it to those places, her current course is a dream come true, nonetheless.
"It really is a dream job," she said. "It's amazing. It's fantastic. I love it. I always wanted to travel. It's perfect."