WEBVTT

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Naval aviators are brothers and sisters

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and mothers and fathers , but we're

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also very dedicated to what we do . I

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was around aviation as a child . Um ,

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and as a teenager , I worked at a

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private airport . And so I think I got

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the bug early , but as I progressed

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through my studies at the naval academy

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and got a chance to get out in the

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fleet and see what it was like . I just

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wanted to be out there . It looked

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exciting and it , it seemed like the

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way I really wanted to serve and then I

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went to flight school and I was

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fortunate enough to select tactical

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aviation , which meant going into super

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hornets and it just seemed like the

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coolest thing and the best way that I

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could serve and be out there on the

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pointy end of the sphere ,

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professionally , most rewarding was

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combat tours . Um So getting out there

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in the aircraft carrier and getting to

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employ weapons and do what we've been

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training to do for so long and what we

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trained to do is go fight . So

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after I had graduated from the FRS and

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Super Hornets and gone to my first

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squadron , I had an opportunity to

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apply for test pilot school and that

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was my long term dream . I've done the

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coolest flights as a test pilot . And

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it's exciting to try out new technology

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and really push uh the aircraft or a

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system to a place that maybe is on the

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edge of what it was designed to do .

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And also it gave us a chance to bring

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our family here and to have another kid .

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So that's how I went up at Peck's River

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and I've done three tours in the

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program offices doing weapons . And now

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F-18 , I enjoy uh above anything the

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people that I serve with . But of

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course , the aviation part of it is

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getting to fly really cool aircraft and

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getting to do very challenging things

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and push yourself and really strive to

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be the best you can be at a , at a very

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hard job . I really relied on

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mentors and friends and family and uh

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people who had been there before me to

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talk about whether this was right for

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me and whether I , I could overcome

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that challenge . I was actually looking

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at pictures last night of my

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grandmother . So she was a wave in

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World War Two and she was an aviation

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machinist mate . And I was thinking

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about what it meant for her in the 19

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forties to go enlist in the name and

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learn how to fix an aircraft and serve

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our country in that way . I rest on the

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back of all the women who came before

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me and open up these opportunities to

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me the opportunity of being in a

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tactical air slaughter and to be in a

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jet to go into combat . I was the first

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woman in my F-18 squadron . I hope that

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no other women have to be the first .

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It's a legacy and , and I'm proud to be

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a part of it . Thankful for the

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opportunities I have and , and I hope

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we continue to see more women in naval

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aviation .