Lawton’s Space Force recruiting office sends off first Space Force recruit

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - Lawton’s Air Force and Space Force recruiting office sent off its first Space Force recruit.

Hilda Koprowski is Lawton’s first Space Force recruit and said the military is something she always wanted to do since 2014, but life got in the way.

“Then I realized after all this time, after going to school, I’ve been going on and off to jobs and everything has led me to nowhere,” Koprowski said.

She said she was becoming depressed and she and her husband made an overnight decision to speak with a recruiter the next day.

“Originally it was Air Force, then I had to explain that the Space Force is an option for you as well. And then, yeah, just kind of talk to her about it, and Hilda said she’s interested in doing it,” Sgt. Hamilton said.

Koprowski said she originally was looking into the medical field in the military.

“Like in the Hispanic culture, it’s like a job that’s never going to end. So, it was always secure to go into the medical field but deep down I always felt like I wanted to do something else, something different. I just never had the courage to actually do it,” Koprowski said.

Koprowski said she had no clue what the Space Force was, but has always been interested in what other things could be out there.

“I just knew it was a brand new branch and it just caught my eye because it had to do with a lot of satellite and totally completely different. But then again, I always felt some kind of attention, like what else is out there,” Koprowski said.

“Really it’s a lot of exciting things about the Space Force you know that people might not know about. So, there are a lot of things that have to do with satellites. It’s all those different things and really there is a ton of jobs out there that people should look into,” Hamilton said.

Koprowski said she will be a systems operator in the Space Force. While it sounds futuristic, she said space is something that affects daily life.

“It’s not just economically, also we deal with satellites with our GPS. It allows us to make phone calls, it allows us to communicate with each other, it allows us to make transactions, it allows us to pump gas,” Koprowski said. “And I think it was a matter of time before we needed a branch of the military dedicated to its defense. So, I feel very blessed and very honored to be a part of this brand-new branch that was established in 2019. So, it’s very brand new.”

Sgt. Hamilton said he was one of the people who hadn’t thought they’d go into the military, but joining really turned his life around for the better.

”I’ve received two degrees through the Air Force that they paid for, I didn’t have to pay for it, and I am working on my third. So you can get college paid for, learn a job, and get paid. So, there is a ton of benefits like that,” Sgt. Hamilton said.

Koprowski leaves for training on January 10th, and is hoping others from Lawton might join her in the future.

Copyright 2022 KSWO. All rights reserved.