"There's a GIRL on the radio!"

Once upon a time, a LONG time ago, there was a girl who looked a lot like me... but much younger. All during her childhood she said she wanted to be a stewardess (now known as a flight attendant). She had no hopes of flying in any other capacity because ... well ... she was a girl and it was the 70s. Then after high school she was floating through life and working her tail off as a waitress. She quickly realized she needed something important to do with her life. She entered the United States Air Force on November 16, 1981. After basic training they shipped her off to Mississippi for tech school. She was set to be a Radio Operator. Then one day the an instructor visited her class and presented to them the idea of signing up to take another class after finishing this one, to become an Airborne Radio Operator. The girl's response was immediate. She wanted to FLY! So, she kept her test scores high and graduated the first school so that she could be accepted into the second school. As she worked her way through that course she began to learn about the various aircraft to which she could be assigned. She quickly learned that some of the most desirable aircraft were closed to women. Darn! But she kept asking. When might women be allowed to fly on AWACS? But her orders were cut. She would not be going to AWACS. Then on one of the last days of class her instructor entered with new orders for the entire class. Several were changed including her own. She was being sent to AWACS where she would be the first female aircrew member. The newspaper visited and printed a half page article on the girl. Tests were taken, travel was planned, and then she arrived in Oklahoma late one Friday night. The following Monday she began training for her new job. As part of that training they sent her to Saudi Arabia with an aircrew. The girl was excited to establish radio contact the night of her first flight and contacted the men from the navy aboard ship far below her in the Gulf. Everything was perfect. Communication was established. Then the fun began. Words were uttered ... in fact they were yelled. Over the airwaves. The young man aboard that ship forgot to un-key his mic before he screamed those very accurate words: "There's a GIRL on the radio!" Yep, once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a girl who looked a lot like me but much younger. And she was on the airwaves and on the aircraft.