Director of Staff of the Florida ANG honored during retirement ceremony

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Airmen, Soldiers, friends and family gathered to honor the retiring Director of Staff of the Florida Air National Guard Headquarters Col. Jeanette Booth, during a ceremony at the historic St. Francis Barracks, Thursday afternoon.

Col. Booth, a resident of St. Augustine, served more than twenty-three years with the Florida Air National Guard, and has served in her current position for six years.

During the ceremony Adjutant General of Florida Maj. Gen. Douglas Burnett awarded Col. Booth the Legion of Merit and the Florida Cross.

Col. Booth graduated from Oregon State University in Covallis, Ore., in 1984, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, and a commission as a second lieutenant through the Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Following four years on active duty at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, she joined the Florida Air National Guard as an Intel Applications Officer at the 125th Fighter Group in Jacksonville, Fla. Over the next 13 years she served at various positions in the 125th -- including 125th Fighter Wing vice commander -- and joined Florida Air National Guard Headquarters staff as a colonel in 2002.

Col. Booth is a graduate is the Squadron Officers School, Air Command and Staff College, and the Air War College.

Her awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Florida Commendation Medal.