Belchertown colonel honored as Commonwealth Heroine for life of service

CHICOPEE — Some people share personality traits with their pets, but Col. Karen “Jack” Magnus happens to share her name with two of her old dogs.

The Belchertown resident recalls arriving for her first assignment as an Air Reserve technician in Portland, Oregon, years ago with three horses, four dogs and four cats. As she described the miniature farm she brought with her — including two spunky Jack Russell terriers — to her executive officer, the two women began discussing how some pet owners are similar to their pets.

“She went into the wing commander who had hired me, and said to him, doesn’t Karen remind you of a Jack Russell because she’s little and she’s hyper and she’s spicy, she’s generally kind of happy?” Magnus said. “[The wing commander] was like, ‘I’m gonna call her Jack.’ I’d only been there two weeks. He introduced me at the very first big wing meeting as Jack, and that was my call sign, and has been my call sign ever since.”

Three decades later, and five years since her retirement, the name still fits.

For her 33-year career in the military and tireless work as a veteran, Sen. Jake Oliveira nominated Magnus as a 2025 Commonwealth Heroine. Each year, the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women partners with state legislators to identify women who make outstanding contributions to their organizations and communities. These women are nominated by their elected officials.

“Karen’s lifetime of service to our country, her ongoing leadership at Westover Air Reserve Base, and her commitment to building stronger partnerships between the base and the broader community make her an extraordinary example of integrity, strength, and impact,” Oliveira said in a statement. “She is not only a mentor and leader to women in uniform, she is a builder of bridges between military and civilian life, and a passionate advocate for both people and the environment.”

Though she retired five years ago from the military, Magnus still holds a civilian job at Westover, where last week she could be found cruising around the 2,500-acre base on a hot summer day, pointing out landmarks and embellishing their descriptions with colorful facts. Model desert homes and outdoor markets make up Dog Patch, a training area for not only soldiers, but airmen and canines. A Candy Bomber Lane bares the name of Westover’s own Col. Gail Halvorsen, who famously airdropped candy into Berlin in 1948. Two humongous C-5 airplanes await maintenance on the tarmac just behind the series of odd-numbered hangers.

As she drives, Magnus explains one of her many projects as the director of Mission Sustainment & Community Partnership, a position that investigates opportunities that benefit both the base and its surrounding communities.

“When I’m doing things for Westover, I’m really thinking much bigger picture,” she said. “How does something that we need potentially overlap with something the community needs. How does something the community needs overlap with something we need? And how can we work together to achieve getting that resource or that capability for all of us?”

For instance, Magnus is currently investigating ways to power the base through a European technology called control pyrolysis, which converts solid waste from nearby communities into syngas, bio-oil, and bio-char. The goal, Magnus said, is to reduce the amount of solid waste in landfills while simultaneously providing electricity for the installation.

“Once that plant comes online, instead of having to send their trash, in some cases, out of state, they’ll [municipalities will] be able to send it to the plants,” Magnus said. “It’ll save them money, and the end product that comes out of that solid waste is an ash that gets used in concrete.”

Career by accident

Despite her passion for her civilian and military communities, Magnus never dreamed of enlisting as a child. She grew up moving from Navy base to Navy base with her father, but wanted to explore different careers for her future.

“I always joke that my career happened entirely by accident, with no planning on my part,” she said. “I just rolled with whatever happened to come down my way and lo and behold, here we are.”

It wasn’t until she began jogging with the University of Portland’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps’ run team that she warmed to the idea of a occupation in the military. She spent six years in active duty after college before a brief time training to become an Olympic equestrian. After learning that equestrian sponsorships were few and far between, Magnus turned back to the military, this time in the reserves.

Standing in front of the camera is unfamiliar to Magnus, as one of her many positions in the reserves includes several years behind the camera as a public relations correspondent for the Air Force.

She recounts stories of taking media teams to report on different humanitarian efforts by all military branches across areas of deployment. Magnus ran against hurricane-strength winds to get photos under a helicopter of airmen quickly dropping down ropes, and one airman had to slam her down to keep the wind from lifting her into the air. In the middle of rural Djibouti, Magnus squatted behind a rock to use the restroom, and despite asking the 100 men with her for privacy, crunching footsteps followed her.

“I’m thinking, ‘Who’s coming around here, messing with me?’” she said. “I look up, and it’s a camel. That camel came all the way around, walked right up to me. He put his leg down. He’s looking at me. He’s like, ‘What you doing down there?’ To this day, that is one of the funniest things that ever has happened to me.”

Some of Magnus’s other funny stories detail unprofessional encounters with her male coworkers, which she admits would not ring as humorous if she could not defend herself in those moments. Especially early in her career, men outnumbered women in the military, skewing accepted behavior. Magnus credits her professionalism as key to handling these inappropriate situations, and she often gives other female soldiers the same advice.

“I tried to just be one of the guys. And then when I say be one of the guys, I don’t mean act like a man,” Magnus said. “I just mean I tried to behave in a way that was neutral. She’s part of the team. She’s a professional like we are, and she knows her job”

Her life in the military has brought Magnus everywhere from Spain to San Diego, but Massachusetts has become the perfect place for her to land. Whether it’s meetings with Gov. Maura Healey’s team or the congressional delegation voting in favor of veteran benefits, the commonwealth remains steadfast in its support of the military. Magnus’s passion and charity benefits greatly from their collaboration.

“It’s been super rewarding experience because whatever I’m working on gets amplified, and the effect is amplified, and it means that it can reach out and benefit more than just a few,” she said. “I love what I do. I love that I get to be in a state where there are so many others also trying to do good things for everybody, not just the military.”

Emilee Klein can be reached at eklein@gazettenet.com.