Airman Rewrites His Air Force Future
by U.S. Air Force Patrick Griffith, 316th Wing
January 1, 2026

U.S. Air Force Capt. Joshua A. Lemon, 316th Operations Group executive officer, enlisted in 2003 and by 2019 had reached the rank of senior master sergeant. With only four years left before retirement eligibility, his career had reached a point where he would be confined to a desk.

He had spent the majority of his career as an airborne cryptologic language analyst fluent in the Korean language flying intelligence missions aboard an RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft. He also served four years as a Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape instructor.

After promoting to E-8, Lemon was acting senior enlisted advisor for the 338th Combat Training Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. He then received orders to become the senior enlisted leader for a unit at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, though he initially felt apprehension about assuming the role.

“I just wasn't ready to go that route,” he said. “I wanted to keep flying and executing the mission.”

Lemon had a conversation with his squadron commander, who advised him to consider taking his experience to the officer corps.

He submitted a nomination package for Officer Training School with hopes of becoming an air battle manager on aircraft like E-3 Sentry or E-8 Joint Stars. However ... and he’s still not sure why ... he was selected to become a pilot.

“I don’t know what happened but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth,” he said.

Lemon completed OTS at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and began pilot training in T-6 Texan II aircraft at Laughlin AFB, Texas. He aimed to fly aircraft such as the C-17 Globemaster III, C-130 Hercules or KC-135 Stratotanker.

“I had been in Air Combat Command, but I wanted to do the mobility route,” he said. “Instead of executing the combat mission at all times and being stove piped to specific areas, I wanted to go to Air Mobility Command and operate globally. AMC is very good about allowing crossflow between aircraft ... it was tantalizing, potentially being on a C-17 for four years and then moving to a C-130 or a KC-135.”

Unfortunately, Lemon began experiencing air sickness. Training during the height of COVID-19 made things more difficult, as students were quarantined for 14 days any time that they were exposed to someone who tested positive.

“Part of getting over air sickness is training your brain to deal with the nausea,” he said. “A lot of that takes being in the aircraft, getting nauseous, doing breathing exercises and overcoming it with repetitive flights.”

He was quarantined four times during pilot training, which limited his flying hours and hindered his ability to adapt. At that point, Lemon began looking into becoming a helicopter pilot.

“As a former SERE instructor, I respected the mission,” he said. “My air sickness would probably be a lot less of an issue, and I still got to do something that I would enjoy quite a bit.”

There’s also the Huey connection to his father, Carl Lemon, who served 23 years in the Air Force as an EC-47 aircraft navigator. While flying a mission April 8, 1970, during the Vietnam War, his father’s aircraft was shot down. After crashing in South Vietnam, it was a UH-1 crew that rescued him and the surviving EC-47 crew members.

“The whole reason I’m here is because somebody came out and got him,” he said.

(Lemon was interviewed about his father’s impact on his own Air Force career earlier this year, prior to the 2025 Joint Base Andrews Air Show.)

Lemon arrived at the 1st Helicopter Squadron in 2021, and in December 2025, he became B-flight commander, something that doesn’t normally happen for officers on their first tour with the squadron unless they are prior enlisted.

As an enlisted linguist aboard the RC-135, Lemon said he had a unique role leading missions as an enlisted Airman. Although he valued the authority he held in the air, he sees the advantages of commissioning.

“Even though I was in that position where I was in charge of the mission, and I was given the authority to make decisions in combat or combat support, I still see the benefit of becoming an officer,” he said. “I was only given that authority when I was in the air, but now I have it at all times, and that’s awesome.”

He said the increased responsibility and workload on the officer side have been worth the challenge.

“The amount of responsibility you’re handed as an officer is phenomenal,” Lemon said. “As a senior master sergeant, I was the senior enlisted leader of a 650-person squadron, but even then, I didn’t have the same decision-making authority I do now. As a flight commander, I’m one of four officers managing a quarter of our squadron’s operations ... everything from crew scheduling to mission execution to mentoring.”

When Lemon started pilot training, he was told his officer career wouldn’t go beyond the rank of major and that he wouldn’t become a commander. While waiting for training to begin at Laughlin, he served as an executive officer for a squadron commander, who encouraged him to pursue command anyway.

Lemon moved to his current position with the 316th OG in November, but he on hopes to someday return to the 1st HS as commander.

“I’ll go as far as the Air Force takes me if I keep getting great opportunities and it works for my family,” he said.

Lemon encourages other enlisted Airmen considering commissioning to pursue it with “reckless abandon.”

“A lot of enlisted Airmen, myself included, are very busy and have a lot on their plates,” he said. “The idea of pursuing a degree on top of their nine-to-five and then going through a rigorous selection process with even the possibility of being denied is daunting. But it’s worth it.”

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