Veterans Salute: Married in the Military: Retired veterans Gavin and Amy McIlvenna

“That was pretty traumatizing. I didn’t get on a plane for five years after that,” she said.

Amy also was a convoy commander of an Indiana National Guard medical unit that responded to Hurricane Katrina. She led a group of 33 National Guardsmen and 17 vehicles to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to care for other National Guard soldiers during recovery operations.

Seemingly unable to escape national tragedies, Amy’s medical unit served as security for the 1996 Summer Olympics when a domestic terrorist set off a bomb at the Centennial Olympic Park, injuring hundreds of people. Amy finished nursing school at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. At that same time the National Guard Warrior Training Center was traveling the country and conducting the Mobile Training Team Air Assault Course. Amy was assigned to support the course as a medic, but was not able to attend the first briefings because she was graduating Nursing School much to the dismay of the chief instructor and her future husband: Gavin. He and a few other guardsmen who worked at the Portland Air National Guard Base were tasked to create the course from scratch, and their presentation to the Indiana National Guard was the first time they had taught the class.

“Every night was chaos behind the scenes trying to figure out what we’re doing tomorrow,” Gavin said.

The course went smoothly and aside from helping her medics provide quality care to the students through the course, Amy was focused on meeting the expectations of the training team, and setting standards for follow on medics assigned to support the course across the United States, which impressed the training team leadership.

“He was a hard ass, actually, but that made me be harder on my medics, because I wanted to impress these guys,” Amy said. “It was a great learning experience.”

Gavin and Amy served in different roles, but Amy’s medics complimented Gavin’s cadre, so much so, Gavin asked Amy to support the course six months later.

“She knew our mindset. She knew what we wanted. She could see behind the scenes of how meticulous we were and everything that we wanted to have done. And she proved herself pretty early on that we didn’t have to babysit the medics,” Gavin added.

After the two-week training, Gavin asked Amy out on a date and one year after that the two were married.

Before the couple’s path crossed in Indiana, Gavin was taking college courses at Western Oregon State College — now Western Oregon University — but said he grew weary and wanted something different. In November 1989, he began his training at Fort Benning, Georgia. Gavin and his unit completed One Station Unit Training which meant he and his squad mates remained with the same unit and drill sergeant through training and into active duty. They completed basic, advanced infantry training and Airborne schools before being assigned to the Airborne unit in Italy.

“I joined Army and was deployed for my first assignment to Italy with the airborne battalion combat team,” Gavin explained. He was part of the 3rd Battalion, 325th Airborne Battalion Combat Team (ABCT) in Vicenza, Italy.

He would remain there and execute numerous military missions like Operation Provide Comfort, that protected Kurdish refugees who fled their homes in Iraq in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Gavin and others would defend the refugees and provide humanitarian aid. He also was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina after the Dayton Peace Accords were signed, helping provide security to the region as regular Army units moved into theater from Germany.

In 1997, Gavin volunteered to join the 3d United States Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) at Fort Myer, Virginia. This unit is the oldest active-duty infantry unit in the Army, serving the United States since 1784.

He went through seven months and 10 days of training before he became a Tomb Guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery.

“I was the first relief commander during that time frame, and it was vastly different than anything else I’d done as an infantryman in the army, very ceremonial, very strict, very meticulous, which I enjoyed,” Gavin said.

In 1999, he and some fellow Tomb Guards founded the Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (SHGTUS).

Gavin described SHGTUS as a “nonprofit educational veterans organization, to one, bring all of the Tomb Guards together and preserve our history, and then find ways to continue to educate people about the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Sentinels.”

SHGTUS will coordinate to send former Tomb Guards to schools and civic organizations to talk about their experience as a Tomb Guard and how it impacted their lives.

Gavin enlisted in the Oregon National Guard in 2000 and was deployed to various locations in the aftermath the events of 9/11.

In July 2009, the two were deployed together to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Gavin was assigned as the First Sergeant for a Personal Security Detail Company for high profile visitors and senior military leaders.

“It was our job to escort them in either ground vehicles or helicopters wherever they went. And it didn’t matter who the VIP was, it could be Kid Rock, Arnold Schwarzenegger, all the way up to then vice president, Joe Biden. We had to provide security and make sure that, as they moved about the country — doing their business — that we protect them.”

Amy was the only female officer in the Headquarters and Headquarters Troop (HHT) of the Oregon based 1-82nd Cavalry Squadron which brought its own set of challenges. As an Army Nurse, she was not trained in Cavalry Operations and had to learn on the fly how to run a tactical operations center at Camp Victory, Iraq. She was also the Squadrons Equal Opportunity Officer and Sexual Assault Coordinator.

A highlight of Amy’s deployment came during a special medical mission to a local Iraqi village where she was able to provide health assessments. “I was able to interact with the Iraqi people and use my skills as a nurse to improve their health,” said Amy.

It was hard to escape the perils of the Middle East, but the two said as time went on it became easier. “The day-to-day business. I don’t think was that difficult,” Gavin said. “Being under constant threat of being attacked or killed, you get used to it.”

Amy returned home in March and Gavin followed a month later. The two said they took time to decompress and “be a couple again,” said Amy.

Gavin left the military in October 2012 and Amy left the Oregon National Guard in 2018. Nowadays they reside in Hood River and Gavin is a Senior Trooper with the Oregon State Police (OSP).

Amy is the director for the SHGTUS Bereavement Program, where she provides services and assists the families of former Tomb Guards who have passed away. She and her 12-year-old granddaughter, Amaya, have found enjoyment in learning taekwondo at the Hood River Martial Arts.