Marcelle Leis – USAF/Air National Guard 1989-2013

Marcelle Leis joined the Air National Guard in 1989 training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Two years into her first enlistment Desert Storm start and according to Marcelle, “that changed everything for the way the Air Guard and Reserves deployed, the way we were seen as a military component of the active duty.”

Marcelle served with the 106th Rescue Mission based in Long Island, NY and remembers helping during Hurricane Sandy as one of the great accomplishments of her career. During and immediately after the hurricane, the 106th was assigned to help people get out of flooded areas, control traffic and bring in supplies to people in areas where she had grown up.

Marcelle currently is program director of the Pfc. Joseph P. Dwyer Veteran Peer Support Project, a program run by the Association for Mental Health and Wellness and Suffolk County United Veterans in New York. Named to honor the memory of an Iraq war hero from Mount Sinai, NY, the Joseph P. Dwyer Veteran Peer Support Project is a peer-to-peer program for Veterans facing the challenges of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).

For more information on the Pfc. Joseph P. Dwyer Veteran Peer Support Project visit http://mhaw.org/dwyer/