From Sikorskys to Sneakers, Alaska Guardsman Breaks Stereotypes with Style

Alaska National Guardsman Sgt. Brianna McMillen, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crew chief with 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, breakdances at the Fairview Recreation Center in Anchorage, Alaska, July 23, 2015. (Photo courtesy of Darel Carey, LiHai Art)

JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska — When not wrenching on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for 40 hours a week, one Alaska Army National Guardsman trades in her flight suit for a pair of sneakers and the dance floor.

Sgt. Brianna McMillen is a crew chief with 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, and has served five years in the AKARNG. The crew chief seat however, takes a backseat to her true passion, breakdancing.

“I saw a couple kids breakdancing at my high school and I thought that the moves they were doing were really cool and crazy,” explained McMillen, an Anchorage native and 2010 graduate of South Anchorage High School.

McMillen began breakdancing eight years ago alone in her garage. Breakdancing or breaking is a musical art form that incorporates a style of street dance typically danced to certain ranges of tempo and beat patterns like hip hop and funk music.

“I was shy about it at first,” said McMillen. “I’ve always been athletic and liked music, but never really had any natural groove.”

There is depth, culture and thrill to the breakdancing scene which encompasses graffiti, djiing, rapping and dancing, explained McMillen. The terms b-boy, b-girl and breaker are used to describe the performers.

Alaska National Guardsman, Sgt. Brianna McMillen, waits outside of a UH-60 Black Hawk as it prepares to move exercise patients and equipment during Operation Rock and a Hard Place in Homer, Alaska, March 21, 2015. Off duty, McMillen is Alaska’s only female competitive breakdancer. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Balinda O’Neal Dresel)

“I go by B-Girl Snap One,” said McMillen. “Snap because I’m actually double jointed and one was added because I am the only b-girl up in Alaska.”

The style of acrobatic dancing has been around since the mid-1970s, growing in worldwide popularity as it made its appearances in countries like the United Kingdom and Japan. However, McMillen explained that breakdancing is minimal in Alaska.

“The hip hop scene in Anchorage is very small. We are so very far away from the rest of the hip hop scene in the United States and in the world,” said McMillen, who hopes to one day represent the U.S. at an international competition.

McMillen believes anyone can do incredible things if they put enough time and passion into their craft.

“Some people do it on their own, but 90 percent of breakdancers have a group or crew that they’re with,” said McMillen, an only child who longed for sibling connection. “You train, travel, practice and ultimately, grow up with them. When it gets hard and you want to quit, you’re with all these people that you’ve been through so much with and you don’t want to leave.”

McMillen explained that the connection with her breakdancing crew is not the only thing that parallels with the Army.

“We are all athletes and need to treat our bodies right,” said McMillen, who credits her Army job with teaching her self-discipline.

“I think breakdancing helps with my [Army] physical training,” said McMillen, who often exceeds a perfect score on the Army physical fitness test. “A lot of females have difficulties lifting their own bodyweight and that’s all that I do when breakdancing is lift my own body weight.”

“The Army National Guard gives great opportunities for those who are seeking to better themselves in their own way,” said McMillen, who underlines self-discipline as the key to success both in breakdancing and the military.[xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]