Joshua de Amusategui enlisted in the Air Force hoping to travel the world. But the military — or fate — had other plans and unintentionally supported a blossoming love story with his high school sweetheart, Ashley.
“I joined the Air Force to move away from home, get out of Roswell, New Mexico, and my first assignment was Clovis, New Mexico — Cannon Air Force Base, which is exactly 92 miles away,” Joshua chuckled. “It made our relationship just that much easier to maintain, because on the weekends and whatnot it was easy travel.”
Joshua and Ashley’s relationship continued to deepen despite the distance and military commitment. They married the day after his commission ceremony from Officer Training School and continued to dream about traveling the world. After a couple of duty stations, multiple deployments and welcoming their three boys, the Air Force finally granted their wish.
Military community abroad
“When we left Oklahoma, we went to Okinawa, Japan — that was our first overseas assignment. We were there through Covid, so that was interesting, being in a foreign country for Covid,” said Ashley. “Nobody could come visit [and] it was really hard for us to leave; Japan closed their borders.”
Even with closed borders, the de Amusateguis enjoyed their time in Japan. When Joshua’s brother — a Marine — requested to be stationed there as well with his family, it gave their boys, Connor, Spencer and Wesley, the rare chance for military children to grow up with cousins. Beyond family ties, they also formed deep bonds with the rest of the families based in the area.
“It was still nice because the community was great,” Joshua added, explaining that they were stationed at Camp Lester, which is situated between a Marine base and an Air Force base. “It was kind of a straggling spot, [with] Navy and Marine Corps personnel and a few Air Force guys all mixed together, and it turned out to be like a great mixture. It was perfect throughout Covid because we all got along great. And of course, being in Okinawa, you were able to go to the beach still … you could scuba dive if you want, because it’s hard to catch Covid underwater!”
When the world began to open again post-Covid, Ashley and Joshua explored their host country. Among other adventures, they hiked Mount Fuji, took their children to Legoland in Nagoya and visited the magical Kyoto.
“We got [to Kyoto] in the spring, and it was right at the end of cherry blossom season. So all of the cherry blossoms were snowing down out of the trees, and it was beautiful,” Ashley reminisced.
While they agree that child-friendly Japan remains their favorite duty station, it has not been their only OCONUS assignment. The family moved to Poland where Joshua, an air battle manager, trained navigators at the ground control interceptor center at the Polish Air Force University. When he wasn’t working, the family took full advantage of their time in Europe by traveling as frequently as possible, exploring Switzerland, Austria and Greece (to name a few!). They even made friends along the way, such as the time they were vacationing in Italy before heading to Garmisch, Germany.
“We were down in Venice, and we were at this resort. Our kids were playing, we were eating dinner, and this girl turns to me and she goes, ‘You’re speaking English. Are you visiting from America?’” recalled Ashley. “They were [Army] FAOs [foreign area officers] … about to PCS that summer to Turkey.” Quickly becoming friends, they made plans to reconnect in Germany where the family was stationed. “They were doing going-away parties with their friends and invited us! And we went to dinner with them and their friends, and it was really fun.”
“It really highlighted that [with the] military community, [it] doesn’t matter where you are or what happens, you just kind of migrate and meld together,” Joshua said.
Advice for travel
Travel seems effortless for the de Amusateguis, so they shared some of their favorite tricks for traveling with little ones.
“I think you have to set your expectations low,” said Ashley with a grin. “Bribery is key … and ice cream. When we went to Kyoto — our kids were a lot smaller in Japan — and we did this long stairway hike thing for the Thousand Torii Gates, and we just kept telling them, ‘Keep going,’ and ‘the next time we see an ice cream stand, we’ll get ice cream!’ Same thing in Europe: there’s gelato and ice cream everywhere, and so we would just say, ‘happy attitudes earn ice cream!’”
And when their youngest would get tired, Joshua (carrying two children at a time) would encourage him by praising his muscles.
“He would be like, ‘Dad, my legs are tired,’ [and] I’m like, ‘well, when your legs are tired, that means they’re stronger!’ And so we kind of made this little mantra over this.”
Air Force and family motto
The family is now en route to Alabama for their next adventure, but they remain open for whatever the future holds.
“Our family lives up to that Air Force standard of flexibility — [it] is the key to everything, right?” Joshua said. “What do they say? ‘Flexibility is key to air power.’ It’s kind of our motto as well.”
“It’s funny, because it’s all I know,” Ashley laughed. “So all I know is us moving and being so flexible!”
Joshua added that while putting down roots can be enticing every once in a while, their family enjoys the adventure that military life offers.
“Every two, two and a half years, we’re like, ‘okay what’s the next thing? What’s the next adventure?’”
Want more travel inspiration? Follow the de Amusategui family on Instagram @the.stegui.chronicles
