MARC JACOBS
Hutch Post
When Ashley Taylor graduated from Junction City High School in 2008, she didn’t have a career mapped out. She knew she wanted to explore life beyond her hometown, and she thought a few years in the Air Force might help her figure out what came next.
More than 15 years later, that decision has taken her around the world and into an assignment with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
“I couldn’t picture my life differently, honestly, now that I’m in it,” Taylor said.
For the former Junction City Blue Jay, becoming a Thunderbird came with an unexpected connection to another chapter of her Kansas upbringing.
Taylor graduated from high school at 17 and received a full soccer scholarship to Cloud County Community College, whose mascot is also the Thunderbird.
“So I was a Thunderbird there first,” she said. “Which was really cool to make that tie like so many years later.”
Although she grew up near Fort Riley and had family ties to the Army, military service wasn’t always her plan. Her grandfather served for more than 20 years and later worked as a JROTC instructor at her high school. Her father served for just over five years.
As Taylor considered her options after high school, the Air Force offered a chance to find direction while seeing more of the world.
Getting there required patience. Eye surgery and the enlistment process stretched the wait to nearly two years. She left for basic training in March 2011.
During her sixth week of training, she learned she would become a still photographer — a job she hadn’t known existed in the military.
“I didn’t have a really big background in photography or mass communications,” Taylor said. “I can’t say that I grew up with a camera in my hand at all times.”
What began as an unfamiliar assignment became a career in public affairs. Taylor, who earned an associate degree in sociology at Cloud County, later completed a bachelor’s degree in mass communications.
Her assignments have included Grand Forks, North Dakota; Fairbanks Alaska; New Mexico; and New York City. Along the way, she traveled to Korea, participated in remains recovery missions in Vietnam and deployed overseas.
Her five and a half years in Alaska proved especially important to her development. She arrived as a newly promoted E-4 and left selected for E-6, taking opportunities to travel and sharpen her skills even when the work pushed her into unfamiliar territory.
“Any chance that I could get to make myself a better person, even if it was fear of the unknown ... I took it,” she said.
She credits that approach to the lessons her parents, grandparents and extended family taught her growing up.
Before joining the Thunderbirds, Taylor worked in New York City on national media engagement for the Secretary of the Air Force’s public affairs operation. For someone born in Manhattan, Kansas, the move carried a fitting symmetry.
“I was born in the Little Apple. I moved to the Big Apple,” she said.
The assignment gave her a chance to experience the pace of a major city while helping tell the Air Force’s story to a national audience. She enjoyed the opportunity, but said it also reinforced her appreciation for Kansas.
“I always appreciated my homegrown roots,” Taylor said. “Home will always be home.”
She joined the Thunderbirds in June 2024 and plans to leave the team in June 2027. Although enlisted members can seek to extend the typical three-year assignment, Taylor said she wants others to have the same opportunity.
Where she goes afterward will depend on the Air Force’s needs. Her experience has taught her to look for something worthwhile in each assignment.
“If I’m surrounded by good people and I’ve got a good support system, I can get through just about anything,” she said.
Taylor plans to reach at least 20 years of service. Thinking about a civilian career brings uncertainty, but she also looks forward to more freedom to spend time with family and return home.
For young people considering military service, she offers an honest assessment: There are hardships, and the commitment demands plenty. But she said it has also given her resilience, practical skills and a broader understanding of the world.
“There is a lot to get out of the military,” Taylor said. “And don’t get me wrong, the military will get a lot out of you, too.”
The teenager who left Junction City without a firm career plan has found purpose through opportunities she never anticipated.
“It’s opened my worldview a lot,” she said. “So I think the military is a great place to try to gain some of that experience.”