Voices of Veterans: Captain Ebony May Shares Her Story of Service in the United States Air Force

Contact: GLO Press Office
(512) 936-9582
media@glo.texas.gov

May was born on August 7, 1978, at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Both of her parents served and joined the U.S. military through the buddy system in Texas. When asked if she graduated from high school in Fort Hood, May laughed, explaining, “Oh, no. We moved every three years.” As the daughter of two Military Members, May lived in many different places, including the first three years of her life in Germany. She and her mother moved back to Texas after her parents divorced, and she graduated from high school in San Antonio, Texas. She completed a B.S. in business management with a concentration in finance at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

She completed ROTC, was commissioned into the Air Force, and began her service as an officer. May started training at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. She described how abruptly her new life began on her first day of training. “The niceties are over. It’s like hitting a brick wall. Then the yelling commences. They’re like, ‘Grab your stuff! Hurry up!’ You’ve got ten people shouting directions at the same time […] You go through all of that on your first day, and your brain is like, just swimming.” She laughed and continued, admitting, “It probably wasn’t until the very next morning, at that first wakeup call, when someone is yelling at you, you’re jolted out of your sleep, it’s early, they’re checking your beds, and, again, telling you 20 different things at the same time, that I was thinking to myself, ‘What the heck did I get myself into? I don’t know if I can handle this.’”

May’s first duty station was Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. She had never heard of this base and, after pulling out a map, discovered Altus was “a speck on the lower Western part of Oklahoma, right above Texas.” She joked, “I was like, ‘How can I have pissed somebody off when I just got started?!’” She also discussed her experience on September 11th while in the military and her strong desire to do something to help, because, as May said, “This is why I put on the uniform.” She was in contracting and was needed where she was at the time to help support frontline needs. However, she would go on to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan.

May met her husband, who was on active duty in the Army, while stationed in Kosovo. It was during this transitional time that she received life-changing orders. “On our honeymoon, I made the mistake of answering my phone,” said May. “It was my commander telling me I had been put up on orders to deploy […] That’s how I found out I was going [to Iraq].” She had time to finish her honeymoon and prepare, but it was a difficult transition after learning that her husband would be deployed to Pakistan at the same time, following a devastating earthquake.

May discussed how intense the difference was between this deployment and any other she had experienced working in contracting. She explained, “I wasn’t trained to do anything on the frontline […] Before going, they send you to training. I went through Fort Bliss, and they kind of give you a crash course on being in hostile combat environments. The biggest thing was when they taught us about IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices] and where the people would hide them. Pretty much, it was anything. It was everything. It could be in a carcass on the side of the road. It could be a vehicle itself, and, of course, on people.” After arriving in Iraq, May said the training helped everyone stay safe but also left her in a constant state of hyper-vigilance. “It’s a lot to take in,” she said. “You know, just always feeling like you’re going to die. You don’t know how, but you just feel like you’re going to die.”

She also talked about her experience as a woman in the military, from being treated differently or looked down upon to being outright ignored or even intimidated. However, she persisted and focused on doing her job effectively and with dignity. “I always say I grew an extra layer of skin from that experience,” said May. She realized she did not want to continue in contracting if she was going to be back stateside, given the amount of bureaucratic red tape involved. May also said that her desire for a family influenced her decision to leave the Air Force because it would be difficult to do so while her husband and she were both in the service. She explained, “I had more time in service. So, it was just a better choice for me to get out.”

After leaving the service, May became a mother and began volunteering much of her time to causes that support military families and community service, including fundraising, reading to children, adapting schools, and girl empowerment programs. She also used the 911 GI Bill and returned to school to pursue a master’s degree in counseling psychology. She bravely shared how difficult it was to pursue a degree while caring for two young children, with a husband who was often away on deployment. “I’m very grateful that we both were military because I know and I understand what he has to do,” said May. “I’ve been through it. I’ve deployed myself, so I understand what it means to put on the uniform. It doesn’t make it hurt any less, but it makes the understanding of the situation easier.”

To listen to Captain Ebony May tell her story, click the button below:

RELATED: Voices of Veterans: Jonathan Hernandez Shares His Story of Service as a Combat Journalist in the United States Air Force

RELATED: Voices of Veterans: Captain Bret Adams Shares His Story of Service in the United States Air Force During the Gulf War

Veterans can email VoicesofVeterans@glo.texas.gov to tell their stories. Please note that the Veteran must be a resident of Texas at the time of their interview.

Voices of Veterans is a state agency’s first Veteran oral history program. It records the stories of Texas Veterans through their time in service and after returning home from combat.

The VLB records interviews with Veterans over the phone or in person. Their interviews are then permanently archived in the Office of Veterans Records at the GLO, where they join the historical documents of other Texas heroes such as Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis.

Veterans’ interviews are also available to researchers, historians, genealogists, and the public. These precious records inspire future generations and remind us of our Veterans’ sacrifices.

To listen to the over 500 archived stories of Veterans documented through the GLO’s Voices of Veterans oral history program, click the button below:

# # #

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., brings a lifetime of experience to the Texas General Land Office (GLO). In 2016, she became the first Republican elected to the Texas State Senate from Travis County and the first woman to represent Texas Senate District 24. She made history again in 2022, winning a statewide election to become our state’s first female Land Commissioner.