WEBVTT 00:09.920 --> 00:11.976 I fly Black Hawks the , uh 60 Lima . 00:11.976 --> 00:14.142 I'm first lieutenant Georgia Cervantes 00:14.270 --> 00:17.879 and I'm a 15 alpha . I 00:17.889 --> 00:20.056 knew I always wanted to be in the army 00:20.056 --> 00:24.030 because I think it had to be because of 00:24.040 --> 00:26.370 the relationship with my sisters . Um , 00:26.379 --> 00:28.870 I'm the middle child , but I've always 00:28.879 --> 00:30.950 felt like I've been the big sister , 00:30.959 --> 00:33.126 you know , I have bigger sisters , but 00:33.126 --> 00:36.970 like , they're sweeter and more mild 00:36.979 --> 00:39.201 mannered I'd say . And I kind of always 00:39.209 --> 00:41.369 felt like I took care of them . And I 00:41.380 --> 00:45.020 think naturally I felt when it came 00:45.029 --> 00:48.220 to what do I wanna do with my life that 00:48.229 --> 00:50.340 led me down to the , I wanna continue 00:50.340 --> 00:53.020 to take care of people . I want to take 00:53.029 --> 00:55.085 care of soldiers . I wanna be in the 00:55.085 --> 00:54.549 army . 00:59.369 --> 01:02.180 I got a little bit of exposure to 01:02.189 --> 01:05.080 aviation during our summer exercises . 01:05.089 --> 01:07.650 There was once we got to take a Black 01:07.660 --> 01:09.938 Hawk trip around the Statue of Liberty , 01:09.938 --> 01:11.882 which I thought was just amazing . 01:14.300 --> 01:16.522 You know , I never thought that I could 01:16.522 --> 01:18.578 be an aviator , but I think that was 01:18.578 --> 01:21.080 just my own lack of imagination . Um , 01:21.089 --> 01:25.000 you tend to see yourself . Um , so like 01:25.010 --> 01:27.232 people who look like you , you look for 01:27.232 --> 01:29.930 those people . Um And you don't often 01:29.940 --> 01:32.440 see female aviators and you don't often 01:32.449 --> 01:35.550 see Latina female aviators . 01:41.839 --> 01:43.728 And I realized like I was the one 01:43.728 --> 01:45.728 counting myself out . Uh No one was 01:45.728 --> 01:48.339 telling me I couldn't fly helicopters 01:48.349 --> 01:51.889 for the army . I wanna do that . I'm 01:51.900 --> 01:54.480 gonna shoot for it . I want that 01:54.489 --> 01:56.656 adventure . I want , I wanna know what 01:56.656 --> 01:57.989 it's like up there . So 02:27.179 --> 02:30.339 I was so excited to work with soldiers 02:30.350 --> 02:33.240 because also in West Point . Um and 02:33.250 --> 02:35.306 basically throughout flight school , 02:35.306 --> 02:37.361 you don't interact with any enlisted 02:37.361 --> 02:39.528 personnel . So I was really excited to 02:39.528 --> 02:41.528 finally have soldiers and that went 02:41.528 --> 02:43.472 above and beyond my expectations . 02:48.800 --> 02:51.022 They're teaching me , I'm teaching them 02:51.022 --> 02:53.078 that interacting with soldiers every 02:53.078 --> 02:55.500 day has just been incredible to me . 03:15.509 --> 03:17.731 Everything is built on trust because at 03:17.839 --> 03:19.950 the end of the day , they're trusting 03:19.950 --> 03:22.172 me to fly in the helicopter and they're 03:22.172 --> 03:25.020 also trusting me to lead them and plan 03:25.029 --> 03:27.720 and execute training for them outside 03:27.729 --> 03:30.259 the helicopter . And I'm trusting them 03:30.270 --> 03:32.520 to do awesome maintenance on the 03:32.529 --> 03:35.320 helicopters that I will eventually fly . 03:44.919 --> 03:48.050 It's so easy to get focused on . What 03:48.059 --> 03:50.750 do I need to do ? What do , what is me 03:50.759 --> 03:52.981 as a pilot , me as an aviator , me as a 03:52.981 --> 03:55.270 platoon leader needs to do and lose 03:55.279 --> 03:57.669 track of the big picture like the army 03:57.679 --> 04:01.100 isn't aviation . We 04:01.929 --> 04:05.169 exist to support the ground force and 04:05.179 --> 04:06.679 the ground force commander 04:06.679 --> 04:10.130 understanding that we support the boots 04:10.139 --> 04:12.139 on the ground and I wanna make sure 04:12.139 --> 04:15.330 that um I never lose sight of that , 04:15.440 --> 04:18.170 but also build that understanding and 04:18.179 --> 04:21.510 that depth of appreciation for why we 04:21.519 --> 04:22.149 exist .