Service: A Calling Bigger Than Yourself

November 6, 2025
1800-2000

This FREE evening will be led by Colonel Trish Torres with a dinner included.

On Veterans Day, we honor the sacrificial service of veterans and first responders while drawing a parallel to the ultimate example of service - Jesus Christ. We remember that true service is rooted in love, modeled by Christ, and everyone is called to serve others with humility, courage, and purpose.

Colonel Trish Torres retired from the Air Force in 2017 after 25 years of service. She is from Brownsville, Texas, and grew up a Marine Corps dependent. She attended Texas A&M University and was commissioned as a second lieutenant with a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1992. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Nuclear Engineering.  Her first duty station was Patrick AFB, Florida, conducting nuclear treaty monitoring. After an assignment as commander of Detachment 489, the Pinedale Seismic Research Facility in Boulder, Wyoming, she cross-trained into the intelligence career field and spent the next 20 years at various intelligence assignments, including assignments in South Korea, the United Kingdom, the Pentagon, and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Col Torres served with the National Security Agency, was an Air Force Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and served with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Col Torres’s deployments include Camp Slayer, Baghdad, Iraq, and Bagram AB, Afghanistan.  Her last Air Force assignment was as Vice Commander of the National Air & Space Intelligence Center at Wright Patterson AFB, Dayton, serving the highest levels of the US government, the Department of Defense, and the Air Force.

Her military awards and recognition include: Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with six oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with two oak leaf clusters, Afghanistan Campaign Medal with bronze star, Iraqi Campaign Medal with bronze star, Korean Defense Service Medal.

Since retirement, Col Torres served as Chief of Operations at an international non-profit and as a member of the Kent County Veterans Services Committee. Some of her current civic and service work includes being a mentor for the Kent County Veterans Treatment Court, chapter coordinator for the Grand Rapids chapter of  Guitars for Vets, and serving those in need as team lead of her church’s Compassion Ministry.