Women in Naval Aviation?

[SRoque]

Hey All,

I'm new to this forum and I'm currently researching Navy as a career track. I'm a college junior majoring in Political Science and getting certified in Arab Studies. I hope to go on to grad school, although I've been seriously considering Navy OCS as an option. My dad has been an inspiration for me; he worked crypto for eight years - he's not exactly thrilled I'm considering the military as a career option, however he has promised his support if I choose it so I'm weighing my options. What I've heard so far from the older and more experienced people I've spoken too who have had military careers they've highly recommended it and told me it was something they never regreted doing.

I've talked to three retired Naval officers although I haven't found anyone in aviation which interests me. I've also been keeping in touch with a recruiter, but he seems to be trying to egg me away from aviation for whatever reasons I don't know about.

Being female, I'd like to pose a couple of questions to those of you who have done this for a while:

Are there any obstacles to women who wish to pursue aviation in the Navy, particularly as combat pilots? Not only in terms of training but also in terms of work environment, etc.?

Your answers and opinions will be deeply appreciated! Thanks!

 

[bch]

/from a male

I have not observed or talked to any women who claim to have any more difficulty that the men they train with.

As far as naval aviation, there are no restricted airframes for women.

Good luck!

 

[Gatordev]

Welcome to the site. If you're interested in the Navy, and specifically aviation, then go for it. It's a lot of hard work, but with tons of rewards (people and flying at the top of the list). Should you be interested in other fields, an Arab studies person would be very valuable, as well. Perhaps that's why the recruiter is pushing you elsewhere. Do what you want to do, not what the recruiter needs for his quota.

If you go the route of aviation, you'll study hard for about 2-3 years (depending on community). After completing your first sea tour, you can then go to grad school during your next tour (and study at least as hard again, I'm sure). You may even be able to get the Navy to pay for it. Just don't expect to be able (or want) to go for a grad degree for several years after you join, but it's definitely a possibility down the road.

 

[smittyrunr]

Welcome! There are no restrictions against women in Naval Aviation, the only problem women seem to have more than men is size- there are minimum height requirements, and since women are generally smaller, this can be a problem. No difference in training, except that your PRT (physical readiness test- run, sit-ups, and push-ups) is graded on a different scale. The work environment so far has been no problem- there are a few guys out there who don't think women belong, but they are few and far between. As long as you work hard and don't make an issue of it, you'll earn their respect and they'll leave you alone.
Please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

 

[SteveG75]

Like all said above, there are many women in Naval Aviation. I personally care more about my pilot's abilities landing on the carrier than their gender.

Now, I was an the USS Abrham Lincoln when we first introduced women into tactical squadrons. Those were interesting times since the Navy was trying to fill a quota due to the events of Tailhook '91. There were some good females and some not so good. The problem was that the not so good ones were not getting weeded out due to the perceived need to get women into the fleet. Do a google for "Kara Hultgreen". I think we are over that now and get women who want and should be in the cockpit.

Couple of other thoughts:
- As a female in the military, you are part of a small group. As such, if you do crazy stuff or are having trouble, it will be more noticeable.
- Be professional, especially in personal relationships. I have seen female students sleeping with their instructors. You are human and you deserve a relationship, but be professional. I know of an aviator couple in my last air wing. Very professional behavior at work (which is 24/7 when deployed) so there were no problems.
- Career or family. It is a choice we all have to make but I honestly feel that it is harder for women due to the pregnancy issue. One of the best ECMO's I ever knew decided to put her family first and got it. I am sure she could have been the first female EA-6B skipper.

Just some thoughts from an old mysoginistic dinosaur.

 

[Gatordev]

It's funny, Steve, because I thought some similar things regarding relationships, but didn't think they were needed yet for a Junior in college. But since you opened the door...

Sleeping w/ instructors...well, it's not necessarily right (independent of command rules), but at least you're both officers. But boinking the Es is no good. I've seen several cases where that was going on, and it's just bad for everyone. Don't do it. You'd think I wouldn't need to say it, but, well, I'm sure a lot of you know. This issue seems to be the biggest issue I've seen w/ women in the Navy.

 

[squeeze]

you'll get just as much respect as any male unless you try to wave the female or sexual-harrasment card.... then your stock will go to zero in no time flat.

 

[Fly Navy]

you'll get just as much respect as any male unless you try to wave the female or sexual-harrasment card.... then your stock will go to zero in no time flat.

Oh hell yeah.

 

[bunk22]

Sea Story:

It's toward the end of my first WESTPAC, back in 99. I'm copilot with the pilot and aircraft commander being Julie "FUD" Dietrich. We are in the stack at 5,000' with a VAW-116 E-2C. Being who I am and who FUD is, I'm always giving her **** for being a female pilot. I'm also shooting the **** with the E-2 pilots over a pre-determined frequency on radio 2. I'm also talking with talking periodically with tower on radio 1. Well, just to mess with FUD, I tell the 116 bubba's that.......and I quote "chicks should never fly airplanes." Unfortunetly, I forgot to switch back to radio 2 so I broadcasted that call to tower, air ops, all aircraft in the overhead, CAG (who was listening somewhere), etc. My OIC got an immediate nasty phone call starting with AIR OPS, followed by CAG. Funny but not........no funny. My OIC didn't think so.

By the way, FUD stands for "****s ugly dudes"

 

[Fly Navy]

Sea Story:

It's toward the end of my first WESTPAC, back in 99. I'm copilot with the pilot and aircraft commander being Julie "FUD" Dietrich. We are in the stack at 5,000' with a VAW-116 E-2C. Being who I am and who FUD is, I'm always giving her **** for being a female pilot. I'm also shooting the **** with the E-2 pilots over a pre-determined frequency on radio 2. I'm also talking with talking periodically with tower on radio 1. Well, just to mess with FUD, I tell the 116 bubba's that.......and I quote "chicks should never fly airplanes." Unfortunetly, I forgot to switch back to radio 2 so I broadcasted that call to tower, air ops, all aircraft in the overhead, CAG (who was listening somewhere), etc. My OIC got an immediate nasty phone call starting with AIR OPS, followed by CAG. Funny but not........no funny. My OIC didn't think so.

By the way, FUD stands for "****s ugly dudes"

I love "radio follies". I once broadcasted "Fvck, I'm retarded sir" over Austin Approach by accident.

 

[E5B]

Or a fellow Stud when I was in VT-28 broadcasted over Corpus ground..."Navy Corpus ground, Ranger XXX request taxi with.....uh...what the fvck did I write down........uh victor"

 

[E5B]

This is also the same stud that while copying down atis a different time at Corpus said"
(over ICS, but equally funny)

stud: "Sh!t"
IP: "wtf did you do now"
stud: "I dropped my pencil.................BUT DON'T WORRY SIR, I HAVE ANOTHER ONE!!

 

[virtu050]

my formation partner in primary was a female... my onwing in advanced was a female... (both coasties).... my fam partner at the RAG is a female. No difference between males and females when it comes to flying from what i've seen. they're generally well accepted and i haven't seen any animosity. but i did hear a story about a female who slept with practically every guy in the squadron and pulled the sexual discrimination card when she didn't get follow on flying orders. i guess there's all kinds.

 

[Fly Navy]

but i did hear a story about a female who slept with practically every guy in the squadron and pulled the sexual discrimination card when she didn't get follow on flying orders. i guess there's all kinds.

There are women that take their job seriously and there are women that use it as their own fraternity party. Guess which ones get respect and which ones get sh!t on?

It was said before, but I'll reiterate... even in my short and limited exposure to Naval Aviation (read as: Just TRACOM), if a woman screws up or is mediocre or is an embarrasment and so on, it will be MUCH MORE visible than if a guy is. This is because there are just flat out less women in the ranks.

 

[bch]

Let me add this, just to add some perspective. Everyone keeps giving examples of women that screwed up (I have also witnessed this), but there are just as many males who Fvck Up and do stupid sh!t too.

I know of male officers sleeping with female maintainers. Not that I am trying to stick up for female O's just making sure we are painting the correct picture.