Three Boonville siblings enlist in Air Force together

BOONVILLE, Mo. -- Christine Chase and her siblings learned how to salute, run, climb and use ropes to overcome obstacles a long time ago. Now the three will get a chance to use all of those skills for real in the Air Force.

Chase, 21, sister Ricki Alleman, 25, and brother Michael Chase, 19, recently decided to join the military together, a rare family phenomenon in military recruiting, Air Force recruiter Sgt. Jonas Patterson said.

"I've had couples sign up together, but this is the first time that I've had three siblings from the same family sign up," Patterson said.

All three are scheduled to leave within two weeks for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Christine Chase remembers drills by her uncle, a 33-year veteran of the Marines, when she was a child.

"It was just a good way to wear out a little kid," she said.

'It's what we know'

Their father, Ricky Chase, served in the Air Force for six years and is especially proud of the military, she said.

"We're people who put Air Force stickers automatically on all our cars," Christine Chase said. "It's what we know."

Christine Chase, a second-year student at a State Fair Community College branch on Whiteman Air Force Base, said current events partially contributed to the decision to join the military.

"I don't think we jumped into" the Iraq war "too quickly," she said. "I don't see why it's so bad to go and protect this country."

She said she wants to be assigned to a region of conflict.

But Patterson said it's unlikely any of the siblings will see combat. Christine Chase will train in linguistics, her brother in computers and their sister in electronic avionics.

"It's unlikely that anything bad is going to happen to us," said Alleman, who was married in June and has a 5-year-old daughter.

The three recruits, all of whom are either attending or have attended college, bring valued skills to the Air Force. Alleman has a degree in accounting and management from Park University, while Michael and Christine Chase are both students at State Fair Community College.