WEBVTT 00:00.009 --> 00:02.231 All right . So my name is Captain Fiona 00:02.231 --> 00:05.880 Cot . I am a U 28 pilot . Uh So 00:05.889 --> 00:08.167 essentially my plane does intelligence , 00:08.167 --> 00:10.389 reconnaissance and surveillance for the 00:10.389 --> 00:12.556 Air Force Special Operations Command . 00:12.680 --> 00:14.847 So that what that means really is that 00:14.847 --> 00:16.902 we deploy down range and we uh go to 00:16.902 --> 00:19.124 specific areas . We're always providing 00:19.124 --> 00:21.291 overhead support for our ground troops 00:21.291 --> 00:23.402 whenever they're doing things . Uh we 00:23.402 --> 00:25.458 have two cameras on our plane and we 00:25.458 --> 00:27.291 essentially use those cameras to 00:27.291 --> 00:29.402 protect our friendlies or protect our 00:29.402 --> 00:31.624 people , Americans and partner forces . 00:31.624 --> 00:33.680 And then we also find the bad guys , 00:33.680 --> 00:35.680 the cameras , what made you want to 00:35.680 --> 00:39.310 join the service . So , uh uh big thing 00:39.319 --> 00:41.375 is that I am an immigrant . And so I 00:41.375 --> 00:44.189 grew up in Kenya , East Africa . Uh and 00:44.200 --> 00:46.279 I moved to the US when I was 13 and 00:46.290 --> 00:48.740 being a family from immigrants , like 00:48.750 --> 00:50.917 our family didn't have very much . And 00:50.917 --> 00:53.028 so growing up going to high school in 00:53.028 --> 00:55.361 the United States and learning like how , 00:55.361 --> 00:57.306 you know , a different culture and 00:57.306 --> 00:59.361 everything I was drawn to flying . I 00:59.361 --> 01:01.306 always wanted to fly since I was a 01:01.306 --> 01:03.250 little girl . So , yeah , well , I 01:03.250 --> 01:05.472 always thought that people who flew had 01:05.472 --> 01:05.419 money . Right . Because , like the 01:05.430 --> 01:07.839 planes were in the sky and stuff . So 01:07.849 --> 01:09.960 when I moved to the US and then I , I 01:09.960 --> 01:12.182 got to go to high school here . I was , 01:12.182 --> 01:12.080 like , all right , I think I can make 01:12.089 --> 01:14.311 this happen , but my family didn't have 01:14.311 --> 01:16.311 very much money and I was trying to 01:16.311 --> 01:18.533 figure out how I was gonna get a , uh , 01:18.533 --> 01:20.589 a chance to fly . And then I learned 01:20.589 --> 01:22.756 about the Air Force Academy , um which 01:22.756 --> 01:21.980 is like a four year college that the 01:21.989 --> 01:24.045 Air Force has and you can get to fly 01:24.045 --> 01:26.045 there as a student and do all these 01:26.045 --> 01:28.378 things and it's a full ride essentially . 01:28.378 --> 01:30.489 So I was like , all right , I want to 01:30.489 --> 01:32.656 do that . Uh So I applied to go to the 01:32.656 --> 01:34.822 office Academy . I got selected , um I 01:34.822 --> 01:36.989 was really young when I got in , I was 01:36.989 --> 01:39.211 17 and I was like , all right , here we 01:39.211 --> 01:41.267 go , you know , when you got in 17 . 01:41.349 --> 01:43.627 But it's because I went to the Academy , 01:43.627 --> 01:45.571 um which is , which is a college , 01:45.571 --> 01:47.627 right ? So I did that for four years 01:47.627 --> 01:49.510 and then I got a pilot slot . So 01:49.519 --> 01:51.630 essentially I wanted to , I wanted to 01:51.630 --> 01:53.852 be a pilot for a really long time . And 01:53.852 --> 01:56.075 therefore , of course , it was a really 01:56.075 --> 01:56.040 good way for me to do that , but also 01:56.209 --> 01:58.589 being an immigrant and coming here , um 01:58.599 --> 02:01.389 I saw everything that the , the US was 02:01.400 --> 02:04.309 able to do for me and my family and I 02:04.319 --> 02:06.375 saw that we could have opportunities 02:06.375 --> 02:08.541 that I never had growing up in Kenya , 02:08.541 --> 02:10.486 honestly . And I was like , if I'm 02:10.486 --> 02:12.652 gonna do anything , I'm gonna join the 02:12.652 --> 02:14.875 military . You know . So you being from 02:14.875 --> 02:14.458 Kenya , how often do you get to speak 02:14.468 --> 02:16.635 to your family or are they still out ? 02:16.635 --> 02:18.746 Yeah . So how come my family lives in 02:18.746 --> 02:22.539 Texas ? But um they live in 02:22.548 --> 02:25.169 Texas and so I , I go and visit my , my 02:25.179 --> 02:27.346 family all the time because I'm really 02:27.346 --> 02:29.346 close to them , but my grandparents 02:29.346 --> 02:31.401 live in Kenya . So I talk to them on 02:31.401 --> 02:33.346 the phone like every week . So you 02:33.346 --> 02:35.346 being a uh a captain here ? Right . 02:35.346 --> 02:37.512 That ranking ? How , how hard is it to 02:37.512 --> 02:39.679 get that type of rank ? Especially , I 02:39.679 --> 02:41.790 guess being a black woman too and not 02:41.790 --> 02:43.957 only that , but you know what I mean ? 02:43.957 --> 02:46.179 Uh a woman just , and have that type of 02:46.179 --> 02:48.457 rank . Is that how , how hard was that ? 02:48.457 --> 02:50.679 Any adversity you have to . Yeah . Um I 02:50.679 --> 02:52.901 think in general just coming through uh 02:52.901 --> 02:54.846 going through the academy and then 02:54.846 --> 02:56.957 going to pilot training because pilot 02:56.957 --> 02:56.240 training is what we do and it's about 02:56.250 --> 02:58.472 two years long before you go and become 02:58.472 --> 03:00.940 a pilot . Uh There's just not as much 03:00.949 --> 03:02.949 diversity as you'd want to see . Of 03:02.949 --> 03:05.160 course . Right . And I was most times 03:05.169 --> 03:08.000 the only black female uh doing things 03:08.009 --> 03:10.231 and everything . So that was , that was 03:10.231 --> 03:12.120 a challenge , of course . Right . 03:12.120 --> 03:11.729 Because it's , you're like looking 03:11.740 --> 03:14.679 around , you're like um but I think I 03:14.690 --> 03:16.912 had really good friends and really good 03:16.912 --> 03:19.079 teammates who are always like , people 03:19.079 --> 03:21.301 were always there for you , right ? And 03:21.301 --> 03:23.301 they believed in me and I just work 03:23.301 --> 03:25.579 hard , worked really hard . I was like , 03:25.579 --> 03:27.801 you know what ? I don't care if I don't 03:27.801 --> 03:26.869 see people who look like me , I'm still 03:26.880 --> 03:29.047 gonna do it if I want to do it and and 03:29.047 --> 03:31.500 I was able to do that . So essentially 03:31.509 --> 03:33.731 when you finish your pilot training and 03:33.731 --> 03:35.620 you go and , you know , you start 03:35.620 --> 03:37.676 flying , then you promote . So every 03:37.676 --> 03:39.898 two years you promote to the next drink 03:39.898 --> 03:39.619 until you're a captain . And so I was 03:39.630 --> 03:41.297 able to do my job well and do 03:41.297 --> 03:43.241 everything and promote from like a 03:43.241 --> 03:45.352 lieutenant to a captain . And now I'm 03:45.352 --> 03:47.519 waiting , hopefully after about , um , 03:47.519 --> 03:49.574 another year here , I'll find out if 03:49.574 --> 03:51.463 I'm gonna be able to make major , 03:51.463 --> 03:53.630 that's fine . So you being any of this 03:53.630 --> 03:55.852 long , what was some of what was like , 03:55.852 --> 03:58.074 your toughest challenge ? You have to , 03:58.074 --> 04:00.297 I guess , um , get over or what was the 04:00.297 --> 03:59.419 challenge ? Really ? That ? Yeah , 03:59.429 --> 04:01.809 that's a good question . Um , I think 04:01.970 --> 04:03.637 probably the most challenging 04:03.637 --> 04:05.803 experience I've had in the Air force . 04:05.803 --> 04:08.026 I have probably two that are right side 04:08.026 --> 04:10.240 by side . So my first deployment was , 04:10.250 --> 04:13.690 was hard . Um , and it was really 04:13.699 --> 04:16.179 difficult for my family because I mean , 04:16.190 --> 04:18.350 coming from a background where nobody 04:18.359 --> 04:20.526 knew anything about the military right 04:20.526 --> 04:22.248 there . It's all brand new for 04:22.248 --> 04:24.192 everybody . And my family was very 04:24.192 --> 04:26.303 nervous that I was going , you know , 04:26.303 --> 04:25.989 somewhere in the Middle East and that I 04:26.000 --> 04:27.944 was gonna be working out there and 04:28.040 --> 04:30.318 doing stuff and they're like , oh , no , 04:30.318 --> 04:32.484 don't go , like , we don't want you to 04:32.484 --> 04:31.500 go , you know .