Monsita J. Faley

Monsita Josefa Velasquez was born to Trudy and Ismael Velasquez at Fort Polk, Louisiana, in the 1960s. As the youngest of four children and their only daughter, she felt cherished but often vied for individuality among her older brothers. Her father's Army career meant frequent moves around New England, but they eventually settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts, where Monsita attended junior high and high school and played field hockey.
Inspired by her family's military service and eager to serve herself, Monsita joined the Air Force at age 17, aspiring to work in medicine. She completed Basic Training at Lackland AFB and technical school (despite catching chickenpox), then turned down an Air Traffic Controller role, suspecting it tested her commitment. At Reese AFB, she worked as a Diet Therapy Specialist, adapted to jet noise, and received dual training in Aircraft Incident Response. (no major incidents occurred) she became a Girl Scout Leader and earned Airman of the Quarter awards. She also began college studies toward a nursing degree.
Monsita spent several months in England on a large-scale Army exercise at Knockton Hall, helping set up a field hospital—she recalls bathing in tea-colored water. Though she enjoyed active duty, she wanted to become an Officer faster and decided to attend school full-time, transferring to the Air Force Reserve at Westover AFB, Massachusetts, a C-5 cargo plane base. There, she trained as an Aerospace Medicine Technician, conducting physical exams and flying with crews to provide health recommendations. Her unit spent six months processing personnel for Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Meanwhile, she attended college and held two other jobs: security guard and nurse’s aide.
After earning her associate’s degree in nursing, Monsita passed the Registered Nursing Exam, commissioned as an officer, and joined the 42nd Aerial Staging Squadron. Moving to Hawaii, she began her civilian nursing career at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, working with Oncology and Bone Marrow Transplant patients, and started regularly donating blood, recognizing its constant need.
A few years later, Monsita returned to the mainland, marrying and having two children, Kira and Alek. To balance family life, she took various nursing roles—including teaching at California State University, San Marcos; serving as a surgical center nurse; research nurse at Scripps Stevens Cancer Center; and critical care nurse at Palomar Medical Center. Throughout, she pursued advanced degrees, earning her BSN from the University of Phoenix and an MSN from the University of San Diego; In between this time, unfortunately she got a divorce from Kira and Alek’s Dad, but was lucky enough to meet a wonderful man who shared the same vision and values.  Jeff and Monsita married after dating for some time, as their agendas were full flying around the globe (Jeff was both a military pilot at the time and a Delta pilot) and caring for kids. She became a Nurse Practitioner the same year their youngest child, Erin, was born in 2006. This made the family complete!
Monsita's military education paralleled her civilian accomplishments. She finished Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and Air War College, and she was elevated to Colonel in 2011.  For 11 years, she served as a Family Nurse Practitioner at Vista Community Clinic while remaining an active Reservist at March Air Reserve Base, deploying to Ramstein Air Base during Desert Storm and later serving as Commander at Peterson AFB and, after a deployment to Afghanistan, leading the 452nd Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron as Commander. In civilian life, she continued to value education and completed her Doctoral degree in Nursing Practice from the University of Miami in 2017.  She specialized in Neurology at Scripps Clinic Medical Group and later transitioned to the Defense Institute for Medical Operations as Special Assistant to the Director before retiring from the Air Force Reserve in 2019. She currently works in Telemedicine caring for patients with epilepsy, memory issues and migraines.
Today, Monsita volunteers for the American Red Cross, and locally for Doors for Change, and TERI, Inc. She enjoys time with her family, playing pickleball, and mahjongg.