From Romania to reservist: One Airman's journey

  • Published
  • By Ellen Hatfield
  • 349th Air Mobility Wing public affairs
Adriana Pop was born in Romania, to a father who carved out a career in the Romanian Army and a mother who is an accountant.

After earning her bachelor's degree in journalism from Vasile Goldis University in her native country, she came to the United States as an au pair on a student visa.

Today, Senior Airman Adriana Pop is a structural specialist with the 349th Civil Engineer Squadron, inspired to serve by her father's example. Her sister followed in her mother's footsteps and is a certified public accountant in Romania. Her brother chose a different path and is an engineer who lives in Canada.

As an au pair and student, Pop spent a year in Washington, D.C., eventually leaving for the West Coast. Once in California, she completed a bilingual language arts degree at De Anza College, in Cupertino, studying English, French and Italian, while keeping up her fluency in her native Romanian.

After enlisting in the Air Force Reserve and completing basic military training as well as technical school, she had the opportunity for seasoning training with her squadron, for four months which she embraced.

"I'm just learning right now, but I want to know more and be able to do it on my own," she said.

Pop was able to use her training to be part of the team in the building phase of the 349th CES project "Build It, Burn It, Blow It Up." She is proud of her contribution to the shed under construction.

When not wielding a hammer or a nail gun, running a table saw or routing out a hinge fitting, Pop is a paralegal for a San Francisco law firm. She lives in Hayward, with her husband, who works for AT&T.