U.S. Air Force Veteran, spouse, mother supports military through music

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Victoria H. Taylor
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England— --  In 1988, just barely out of high school, and wanting to make her own way in the world, Michelle Trimmell, boarded the first flight of her life on her way to basic military training in San Antonio, Texas. Serving in the U.S. Air Force as a weather specialist, she rapidly fell in love with the military lifestyle.

“Once I was active duty, I became focused on serving my country and more aware of some of the sacrifices and price that it entails,” Trimmell said. “To this day some of my fondest memories were those of when I was in the military—I loved serving.”

During her enlistment, Michelle met her active duty husband. The two quickly fell in love and were married, but this left Michelle and her husband with a difficult decision to make.

“I loved my job, but I also understood that if we were both active duty there would be a bigger chance that we would be separated more often,” Trimmell said.

Like many other times in her life when she was faced with a challenge, Trimmell took to writing down her feelings and creating songs to help her overcome trials.

“For my husband, the Air Force was already a career. I knew how he felt about the military so it was easy for me to support him,” Trimmell said. “I decided to I would finish my enlistment and start trying to find my niche in the world.”

After transitioning from active duty to her support role as a military spouse, Michelle devoted herself to being a military wife and eventually starting a family.

When she wasn’t busy being a mother and a wife, she worked to care for them in other ways as well.

“I have been in a wide variety of jobs—owning my own business in real estate, working as a loan officer, a finance manager, I was even a manager of a dental office,” Trimmell said.

She pursued formal education and was awarded with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and her Master of Business Administration, but there was something missing.

“Since I joined the Air Force, my life has revolved around the military,” Trimmell said. “I wanted my involvement to have a larger impact.”
Michelle decided to combine her two passions, the military and music.
Throughout her life, she was given many opportunities to follow her music dream, but everyday life kept her from pursuing it and the years progressed.

Now, with her son, who is also a U.S. Air Force veteran, grown and on his own, she decided to take a leap of faith and become a full-time singer and songwriter.

“I’ve been writing music for more than 30 years,” Trimmell said. “Whenever I was faced with an obstacle, I would write about it, so most of my music is about being in the military, or being a spouse, or a mother of a military member.”

After being married for 28 years, all while being associated with the U.S. Air Force, Trimmell has endured multiple hurdles.

“One of the toughest moments of my life was when my son was deployed to Afghanistan,” she said. “My outlet was to write about it.”

Michelle decided to get serious about her career in music and produce songs that will be able to reach others in hopes that her music might help others going through similar situations that she endured.

“It takes a lot of courage to do what members of the military do,” Trimmell said. “My music helped me overcome a lot of challenges that I faced and if it happens to do the same for someone else—it makes everything worth it.”