"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.

Yes, I Can -- Air Force memories

I grew up with a love of aircraft. My dad had served in the Air Force before I was born as a crew chief, first on B-57s and then on the U2. His job was fascinating to me and I loved to hear is wonderful stories about his time on Eniwetok during Atomic Bomb testing and the crazy things that happened with the U2 before it even had markings. (Think SR-71 Blackbird in the '60s and '70s.) I don't remember when it started, I only recall that I always loved flight. Every year I filled out the survey in my School Years book and one of the questions asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Of course it was multiple choice and had different answers for boys and girls. The boys were given the following choices: President, Fireman, Police Officer, Pilot and Doctor. While girls had these choices: Nuse, Teacher and Stewardess. For those of you younger than I a stewardess is a flight attendant. I always checked this box. However, this the first important question to which I was told, I couldn't do it because I was "too...", In this case I was too female. Later - in junior high - CB radios were widely popular. My family owned a home radio as well as car units. We joined CB clubs and you could often find me running radio control. I absolutely loved that radio and nearly every night you could find me on it for part of the evening. It was the first thing I ever loved nearly as much as I loved flight. With my passions in mind it should not surprise you to know that I was thrilled when I was sworn into the Air Force with the job of radio communications. Off to boot camp I went, on November 16, 1981. (This is another story but is also another example of "you can't do that".) That was followed by Tech School where I trained for my job. Another 8 weeks later and I was accepted into school to be an Airborne Communications Systems Operator. To get there I had to achieve a 98 percent grade in the first tech school and have an instructor recommend. But the moment I knew that job was available I set my mind to it. What could be better than a job which combined my two childhood passions?

Training was wonderful except for one thing, most aircraft were not open to women... especially those that were most interesting. The Strategic Air Command had many planes open to women -- at certain bases. But the Tactical Air Command had the more sexy aircraft. They had planes which would allow me to travel the world. Planes which were sleek; which were what I now would term 'hot'. I wanted to fly in the Tactical Air Command. If there were ever a time when I felt defeated byt the "you can't do that" mentality of the world, that was the time. You cannot change your gender.

Soon our class received our orders. Most of the men received orders to go to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma. They would fly on the E-3, AWACS. They would travel the world and spend their lives living out of a flight bag and eating exotic foods. I received orders to Offut AFB to fly on a C-130. The adage among fly-boys was Awful Offut, and "fly around the flagpole'. Where would I travel? Certainly not to Saudi Arabia or Iceland. No, I would fly missions from my home base with far fewer days TDY. I was extremely jealous.

I began a campaign -- I call it Beg the Higher-Ups to Change Policy. I wrote letters to the President and Congress. I talked to flight instructors, recruiters and everyone else who was in the know. Would that accomplish anything? Of course not. I was female. A girl. A 19 year old girl! But I was determined and so, if nothing else, every person who knew me (or even met me more than once) would know that I wanted to fly in the Tactical Air Command. Specifically, I wanted to fly AWACS.

Then a minor miracle happened. TAC opened its doors to women on certain aircraft. And AWACS was one of them. I received new orders the same day! Maybe the person making assignments did not want to hear me beg again. I will never know and I don't care. I had the orders I wanted. I was no longer "too female", and I was thrilled.

I would arrive in Oklahoma in June 1982 as the first female assigned to an air crew on AWACS. There are many more stories to go with that assignment, and many of them do revolve around me being "too female" but that was a handicap which I overcame, and those stories will be told another time.

What was my answer to flight?

"Yes, I Can!