WEBVTT

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(calm piano music)

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- [Woman] It felt very lonely being a female officer

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at the Air Force Academy, but it felt very rewarding

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knowing that we were there for a good reason.

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I received my commission from Bennett College

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by way of North Carolina A&T State University

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in Greensboro, North Carolina in May of 1975.

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I was one of three Bennett Belles to receive

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a commission, and since then my life has been a whirlwind.

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In December, when I graduated from

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air traffic control school, that same day

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and that same moment, I was given a change of orders

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and told that I was gonna be an air training officer.

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I really couldn't believe that,

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out of all of Air Force, I was what

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they considered to be their model

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for an African American female officer.

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(thoughtful piano music)

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Unlike the other military academies,

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the Air Force tried to learn.

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I think that's a representation of where men were then.

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And you can't fault them for what

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they don't know, and how limited they were.

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But the Air Force as a whole was

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much more progressive than Man.

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They went through the process of saying,

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if it's going to happen, it's going to happen right.

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When the class of 1980 called us back

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and said, we remember you, we remember

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when you were there and we were just freshmen.

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Nobody had to remind us, but they tried to get us to forget.

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Nobody had to remind us, you were

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there with us, and you were there for us,

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and for that, we want to come back and say, thank you.

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That was my reward.

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When I separated from the service,

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I came back to the area in which I went to college.

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As I talked to more and more young people,

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I was called upon to talk to more

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because of my experience in the military.

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I was really impressed when a student asked me,

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what was it like being a black female in the Air Force?

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She was identifying with me, she wanted

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to know how I felt about being there.

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Those are the type of questions I want them to ask me

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because I'm not saying I'm the only one,

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but I might be the closest one

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at this moment for them to talk to,

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and it's not fair for me to have

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all that knowledge and not share it.

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I'm only one person, but all it takes

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is one positive exposure to something good

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for them to say, she did it, and so can I.

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(inspirational music)