Capt Jacquelyne Nichols on her toughest flight.

Captain Jacquelyne Nichols

As a panelist in our Greatest Generation Meets the Next Generation: Women in Flight event in Santa Monica on Nov 12th, Jacquelyne Nichols was asked what her toughest flight was and this is what she had to say:

"Every trip provides new experiences, but the same thrill of soaring through the air.  It reminds me of why I wanted to become a pilot in the first place. I am living my dream whenever I step into a plane. I’m a 53 pilot by trade, but I recently converted to the UC35 Delta. This means that I fly colonels and generals to their meetings. Flying is not always easy. I recently had the hardest flight I’ve ever had in my life. I was called to fly a marine home to Oklahoma. He was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer.  He had served two wars in Iraq and he was a combat engineer. It was my job to fly him home so that he could be with his family as he passed. I flew him home to die with his family. I get emotional every time I think about it. That was the most memorable flights that I have ever had."

Capt. Jacquelyne Nichols is an active duty United States Marine currently serving as the Assistant Operations Officer at Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. She recently transitioned to fixed wing aircraft making her the first female Marine Corps pilot to fly the UC-35D. Previously she completed two deployments as a CH-53E helicopter pilot assigned to HMH-466.  She first deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 14.1 where she earned the Air Medal with Strike/Flight numeral 3.

She's Got Grit: What it takes to be (the first woman) Blue Angel

U.S. Marine Captain and Blue Angel Katie Higgins (Photo: She's Got Grit) 

by Shannon Huffman Polson

“Ol’ Chesty Puller would be rolling over in his grave if he knew she was a Marine,” Katie Higgins remembers a classmate saying at the Naval Academy when she was selected for the Marine Corps. “If I have to work with her I’d throw a grenade in her tent,” said another.

It’s not hard to imagine that the road to being the first woman Blue Angel pilot would be a hard one. Where does a woman like this come from? What does it take?

A life of service

Katie Higgins knew about the military from growing up as the daughter of a Navy FA-18 pilot, moving with her family every 2–3 years and spending her first two years of high school in Yokosuka, Japan. The military legacy in Higgins’ family was strong. Her paternal great-grandparents had emigrated from Sweden and her grandfather believed in the idea of service as giving back to their new country, serving during WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

“He really instilled in me the idea of a life of service,” Higgins says.

All three men in her father’s family had attended military academies, so Higgins applied to all three, was given her choice, and chose the Navy.

“I’d thought I wanted to be a fighter pilot like my dad,” she says, “but throughout my time at school I fell in love with the Marine Corps. I was so impressed with the caliber of enlisted Marines, and the loyalty, hard work, and dedication of the officers to their subordinates. I wanted to be a part of that organization.”

I talk to Higgins as she is driving to a new duty station with her husband, also a Marine. She has just finished the flight safety course and is six months pregnant with their first child.

“I’m taking command of a small airfield in a non-flying billet which is perfect timing with where we are in our family,” she explains. “Marines are expected to serve in a “ground tour” even as aviators and so she is also meeting her professional requirements. She speaks candidly about her career thus far, and in everything her love of the Marines comes through.

Resistance starts early

Higgins’ initial application for selection as a Marine at the Naval Academy came with resistance, even from classmates she considered her friends. “It was hurtful, mean shit,” she says. “When I went to TBS (The Basic School), I had an Staff Company Commander that told me that the only reason I would survive in the USMC was because “they can teach a monkey to fly.”

Higgins didn’t let pettiness get in her way, but used these experiences to move forward. She qualified as a C-130 pilot, and deployed almost immediately on arrival to her first duty station.

Higgins has much to be proud of in her career as a Marine, from her Marine commission to her selection and performance as the first woman Blue Angel, but like MGen Tracy Garrett, our most recent Grit Profile, she is most proud of her combat deployment.
“I was part of the Harvest HAWK mission in Afghanistan where we provided close air support (CAS) for US forces. Being able to employ against the enemy to protect American lives was the best feeling in the world,” she says. It was her first deployment.

Harvest HAWK is a modification to the C-130J that Higgins was qualified to fly, dropping the hose refueling pod on the outboard wing and in its place carrying an M299 quad-mount Hellfire missile launcher. It also carries a dual missile launcher for Griffin missiles.
Code One Magazine tells the story:

“The message received by the battalion watch officer in the operations center was as urgent as it was precise: “Second platoon is in sustained contact. Ground commander is requesting Harvest Hawk for an immediate priority JTAR [Joint Tactical Air Request]. Advise estimated arrival time when able.”
The U.S. Marines taking enemy fire in Afghanistan who sent that message weren’t making a general request for close air support. They weren’t trying to flag down a fighter in the area with a couple of bombs to spare, although any help would have been appreciated. What those ground troops wanted was one specific aircraft overhead to make their problem go away — and make it go away right now.”
Higgins was copilot on the mission.

“When we got the call to stand by for a nine-line (the briefing requesting an engagement), I was like: “Hell yeah, it’s on! We could hear the rounds coming in on the radio,” she remembers, “and then an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). It was definitely an adrenaline rush.”

It was daytime mission, but the cloud deck was at the orbiting altitude for her aircraft, so “I was setting the airplane up, and we had to fly below our usual altitude, avoiding the mountains. It was a really dynamic situation. But when there are guys on the ground, well, failure is not an option.”
She put two hellfire missiles on the target.

“I was so excited to be able to do what I had been trained to do,” she says.

A year later, she was in a bar on base, when a guy walked up to her.

“Hey, you guys shot for us last year,” he said. “I was in the platoon that was pinned down. I recognize your voice.”

“That story still gives me chills,” Higgins says. “Putting a face to those guys, having the opportunity to give people the chance to be alive.”

After Afghanistan, Higgins did a second deployment almost immediately to Uganda, flying the C-130 in support of the Marine Air Ground Task Force in 2014 including support of the embassy evacuation. While she was deployed, she had an unexpected call. One of the Blue Angels who knew about her flying called and suggested she apply to be on the team.

“I was very junior,” Higgins says. “I was just a junior captain, and most of the Blue Angels are senior captains or junior majors, but because I’d done back to back deployments I had the requisite hours and flying requirements.”

Higgins took the prompt, and applied for the Blue Angels, the elite Naval aviation demonstration team.

She applied, attended the required two air shows back to back to understand publicity and travel requirements (“I went to watch the Blue Angels on my return from Uganda before I even went to visit my parents!” she says) and was selected as a finalist.

Even knowing it was common to have a commander tease about the final results, when Higgins went to talk to her commander and he said “You know, you’ll be able to apply when you have a little bit more experience,” her heart sank.

Then he smiled, and said “Congratulations. You made it.”

I was so surprised I yelled “Holy shit!” she remembers.

U.S. Marine Captain and Blue Angel Katie Higgins

Putting on the Blue Suit

She did three months of on the job training before putting on “the blue suit” and flying as a Blue Angel, the United States Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, for the first time in November 2014, serving two years. This meant being on the road 300 days a year to inspire up to 11 million people around the nation.

“It was so cool, she says. That suit is so iconic. The team has been around for 70 years.”

Higgins was the first woman pilot on the team, but “I didn’t fathom the impact my joint the team would have. I was just there to do my job.”

(The first woman assigned served in 1969 as an administrative officer, and today eighteen enlisted women serve in different capacities on the team. At any given time seventeen officer pilots violuntarily serve in the Blue Angels and one hundred enlisted sailors and Marines serve in maintenance and support positions.)

That didn’t make it easy.

“All I heard then was that ‘she’s too junior to fly an aircraft like that’ or that ‘the only reason she was selected was because I was a girl.’ Even some of the Blue Angel wives came up with mean nicknames for me. In the end though, as many mean, jealous people I have faced over the years, that number is just a drop in the bucket compared to the number of awesome supportive, mentoring people I have had the honor of serving with.”

And though she may not have anticipated it, she had a major impact.

“The best part of the Blues was being able to talk to the kids,” she says. “To be able to tell them that even if a girl has never done this before, you can do whatever it is that you want to do. Even talking to the little boys…I tell them that women will never reach full equality until we are fully supported by our brothers and fathers, by the men.”

Captain Higgins in flight. (Photo: She's Got Grit) 

Advice to leaders

“Many of the most influential people in my career were my enlisted Marines that taught me the meaning of leadership. I will forever be grateful for those experiences. The bottom line though, whether its negative or positive opinions you are getting, it matters what you think of yourself and your abilities. Don’t let other people define your self confidence. Be open to constructive criticism because officers should always be looking to better themselves, but if someone is trying to tear you down just to be a jerk, give them the proverbial middle finger and move on with your life.”

Higgins says, “Don’t let other people define your self confidence.” She’s done that, and learned good lessons for all leaders along the way. One of them is about the power of a good team.

“The C-130 is a crew served weapon,” Higgins says. “There are two fire control officers in back, the pilot has to flip the (weapon release) consent switch, and there are two guy loading the missiles into the Derringer doors. This teamwork with the Harvest Hawk mission served me well for the Fat Albert mission in the Blue Angels.”

Echoing Karen Baetzel, Higgins recommends new leaders “Seek council from your senior enlisted. They have been in the service almost as long as you have been alive. Have the confidence to make decisions on your own, but there is nothing wrong with going to your GySgt or MSgt and saying “hey I was going to do this, how do you think the Marines will react?” They will respect you as an officer for recognizing them as a source of what you don’t have: experience. There is nothing better than having your senior enlisted looking out for you.”

Another lesson she learned about herself, but also, as a good Marine, taking care of her Marines.
“Mental exhaustion will hit you harder than physical exhaustion. Whether it’s combat stress, complications at home, etc., many type A personalities will hit mental exhaustion long before their bodies give out. Marines don’t quit. They keep taking on responsibilities and don’t want to say when they are overwhelmed or overtasked. It’s up to you as a Marine officer to be on the looking out for signs of mental exhaustion/stress in your enlisted.”
For Higgins, grit “is a combination of perseverance, courage, determination and mental toughness. Someone has grit if they can push through even in the face of what seems like an impossible or dangerous situation. I think of those Marines at Belleau Wood or the Chosin Reservoir or even the Monford Point Marines. All three groups faced very different challenges, but all showed grit in the face of insurmountable odds.”

Like Shaye Haver, one of the first women Rangers, Higgins finds deep and abiding strength in her family support system.

“I have an amazing support system in my family. My husband (another Fat Albert pilot in the Blue Angels) is my rock who even when I doubt myself believes in me and pushes me to be better. My parents are unbelievably supportive and examples of unconditional love. Surrounding myself with those type of people gives me strength when I am weak. They allow me to dig deep even in the most difficult circumstances. My grit, my courage, my perseverance, my determination come from them and is for them. I refuse to ever let them down.”

Sounds a lot like earlier Grit Profile women BG Becky Halstead and LTC Tammy Barlette who both have said that quitting is not an option.

Developing grit is possible too, says Higgins.

“If you want to improve your Grit, you must challenge yourself. How you can you learn skills like perseverance, determination, and courage if you live a boring, comfortable life? You must take on situations outside your comfort zone.” Higgins has clearly done that. She’s got grit.
What does Higgins think about the Marines’ decision to integrate women into combat ground forces?

“The Marine Corps has a standards,” Higgins said. “And that standard shouldn’t be adjusted. If there’s a woman that can meet that standard and she wants to do the job, well, good on ‘er!”
As for the reaction of today’s Marines, Higgins says “people don’t give this generation of Marines enough credit. They are so smart, so intelligent, so professional. They just want to know you can do the job.”


Shannon H. Polson is a speaker, author of North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey, mountain lover, mom and founder of The Grit Project. She is one of the first women to pilot the Apache attack helicopter in the U.S. Army. She is also an Ambassador for FlyGirls the Series. Read more about Shannon at https://medium.com/@ABorderLife/.

She's Got Grit: What it takes to be (the first woman) Blue Angel

by Shannon Huffman Polson

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="590.0"] U.S. Marine Captain and Blue Angel Katie Higgins (Photo: She's Got Grit) [/caption]

“Ol’ Chesty Puller would be rolling over in his grave if he knew she was a Marine,” Katie Higgins remembers a classmate saying at the Naval Academy when she was selected for the Marine Corps. “If I have to work with her I’d throw a grenade in her tent,” said another.

It’s not hard to imagine that the road to being the first woman Blue Angel pilot would be a hard one. Where does a woman like this come from? What does it take?

A life of service

Katie Higgins knew about the military from growing up as the daughter of a Navy FA-18 pilot, moving with her family every 2–3 years and spending her first two years of high school in Yokosuka, Japan. The military legacy in Higgins’ family was strong. Her paternal great-grandparents had emigrated from Sweden and her grandfather believed in the idea of service as giving back to their new country, serving during WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

“He really instilled in me the idea of a life of service,” Higgins says.

All three men in her father’s family had attended military academies, so Higgins applied to all three, was given her choice, and chose the Navy.

“I’d thought I wanted to be a fighter pilot like my dad,” she says, “but throughout my time at school I fell in love with the Marine Corps. I was so impressed with the caliber of enlisted Marines, and the loyalty, hard work, and dedication of the officers to their subordinates. I wanted to be a part of that organization.”

I talk to Higgins as she is driving to a new duty station with her husband, also a Marine. She has just finished the flight safety course and is six months pregnant with their first child.

“I’m taking command of a small airfield in a non-flying billet which is perfect timing with where we are in our family,” she explains. “Marines are expected to serve in a “ground tour” even as aviators and so she is also meeting her professional requirements. She speaks candidly about her career thus far, and in everything her love of the Marines comes through.

Resistance starts early

Higgins’ initial application for selection as a Marine at the Naval Academy came with resistance, even from classmates she considered her friends. “It was hurtful, mean shit,” she says. “When I went to TBS (The Basic School), I had an Staff Company Commander that told me that the only reason I would survive in the USMC was because “they can teach a monkey to fly.”

Higgins didn’t let pettiness get in her way, but used these experiences to move forward. She qualified as a C-130 pilot, and deployed almost immediately on arrival to her first duty station.

Higgins has much to be proud of in her career as a Marine, from her Marine commission to her selection and performance as the first woman Blue Angel, but like MGen Tracy Garrett, our most recent Grit Profile, she is most proud of her combat deployment.

“I was so excited to have the chance to do what I was trained to do.”

“I was part of the Harvest HAWK mission in Afghanistan where we provided close air support (CAS) for US forces. Being able to employ against the enemy to protect American lives was the best feeling in the world,” she says. It was her first deployment.

Harvest HAWK is a modification to the C-130J that Higgins was qualified to fly, dropping the hose refueling pod on the outboard wing and in its place carrying an M299 quad-mount Hellfire missile launcher. It also carries a dual missile launcher for Griffin missiles.

Code One Magazine tells the story:

“The message received by the battalion watch officer in the operations center was as urgent as it was precise: “Second platoon is in sustained contact. Ground commander is requesting Harvest Hawk for an immediate priority JTAR [Joint Tactical Air Request]. Advise estimated arrival time when able.”

The U.S. Marines taking enemy fire in Afghanistan who sent that message weren’t making a general request for close air support. They weren’t trying to flag down a fighter in the area with a couple of bombs to spare, although any help would have been appreciated. What those ground troops wanted was one specific aircraft overhead to make their problem go away — and make it go away right now.”

Higgins was copilot on the mission.

“When we got the call to stand by for a nine-line (the briefing requesting an engagement), I was like: “Hell yeah, it’s on! We could hear the rounds coming in on the radio,” she remembers, “and then an RPG (rocket propelled grenade). It was definitely an adrenaline rush.”

It was daytime mission, but the cloud deck was at the orbiting altitude for her aircraft, so “I was setting the airplane up, and we had to fly below our usual altitude, avoiding the mountains. It was a really dynamic situation. But when there are guys on the ground, well, failure is not an option.”

She put two hellfire missiles on the target.

“I was so excited to be able to do what I had been trained to do,” she says.

A year later, she was in a bar on base, when a guy walked up to her.

“Hey, you guys shot for us last year,” he said. “I was in the platoon that was pinned down. I recognize your voice.”

“That story still gives me chills,” Higgins says. “Putting a face to those guys, having the opportunity to give people the chance to be alive.”

After Afghanistan, Higgins did a second deployment almost immediately to Uganda, flying the C-130 in support of the Marine Air Ground Task Force in 2014 including support of the embassy evacuation. While she was deployed, she had an unexpected call. One of the Blue Angels who knew about her flying called and suggested she apply to be on the team.

“I was very junior,” Higgins says. “I was just a junior captain, and most of the Blue Angels are senior captains or junior majors, but because I’d done back to back deployments I had the requisite hours and flying requirements.”

Higgins took the prompt, and applied for the Blue Angels, the elite Naval aviation demonstration team.

She applied, attended the required two air shows back to back to understand publicity and travel requirements (“I went to watch the Blue Angels on my return from Uganda before I even went to visit my parents!” she says) and was selected as a finalist.

Even knowing it was common to have a commander tease about the final results, when Higgins went to talk to her commander and he said “You know, you’ll be able to apply when you have a little bit more experience,” her heart sank.

Then he smiled, and said “Congratulations. You made it.”

I was so surprised I yelled “Holy shit!” she remembers.

U.S. Marine Captain and Blue Angel Katie Higgins

Putting on the Blue Suit

She did three months of on the job training before putting on “the blue suit” and flying as a Blue Angel, the United States Navy’s Flight Demonstration Squadron, for the first time in November 2014, serving two years. This meant being on the road 300 days a year to inspire up to 11 million people around the nation.

“It was so cool, she says. That suit is so iconic. The team has been around for 70 years.”

Higgins was the first woman pilot on the team, but “I didn’t fathom the impact my joint the team would have. I was just there to do my job.”

(The first woman assigned served in 1969 as an administrative officer, and today eighteen enlisted women serve in different capacities on the team. At any given time seventeen officer pilots violuntarily serve in the Blue Angels and one hundred enlisted sailors and Marines serve in maintenance and support positions.)

That didn’t make it easy.

“All I heard then was that ‘she’s too junior to fly an aircraft like that’ or that ‘the only reason she was selected was because I was a girl.’ Even some of the Blue Angel wives came up with mean nicknames for me. In the end though, as many mean, jealous people I have faced over the years, that number is just a drop in the bucket compared to the number of awesome supportive, mentoring people I have had the honor of serving with.”

And though she may not have anticipated it, she had a major impact.

“The best part of the Blues was being able to talk to the kids,” she says. “To be able to tell them that even if a girl has never done this before, you can do whatever it is that you want to do. Even talking to the little boys…I tell them that women will never reach full equality until we are fully supported by our brothers and fathers, by the men.”

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="596.0"] Captain Higgins in flight. (Photo: She's Got Grit) [/caption]

Advice to leaders

“Many of the most influential people in my career were my enlisted Marines that taught me the meaning of leadership. I will forever be grateful for those experiences. The bottom line though, whether its negative or positive opinions you are getting, it matters what you think of yourself and your abilities. Don’t let other people define your self confidence. Be open to constructive criticism because officers should always be looking to better themselves, but if someone is trying to tear you down just to be a jerk, give them the proverbial middle finger and move on with your life.”

“Don’t let other people define your self confidence.”

She’s done that, and learned good lessons for all leaders along the way.

One of them is about the power of a good team.

“The C-130 is a crew served weapon,” Higgins says. “There are two fire control officers in back, the pilot has to flip the (weapon release) consent switch, and there are two guy loading the missiles into the Derringer doors. This teamwork with the Harvest Hawk mission served me well for the Fat Albert mission in the Blue Angels.”

Echoing Karen Baetzel, Higgins recommends new leaders “Seek council from your senior enlisted. They have been in the service almost as long as you have been alive. Have the confidence to make decisions on your own, but there is nothing wrong with going to your GySgt or MSgt and saying “hey I was going to do this, how do you think the Marines will react?” They will respect you as an officer for recognizing them as a source of what you don’t have: experience. There is nothing better than having your senior enlisted looking out for you.”

Another lesson she learned about herself, but also, as a good Marine, taking care of her Marines.

“Mental exhaustion will hit you harder than physical exhaustion. Whether it’s combat stress, complications at home, etc., many type A personalities will hit mental exhaustion long before their bodies give out. Marines don’t quit. They keep taking on responsibilities and don’t want to say when they are overwhelmed or overtasked. It’s up to you as a Marine officer to be on the looking out for signs of mental exhaustion/stress in your enlisted.”

“Mental exhaustion will hit you harder than physical exhaustion.”

For Higgins, grit “is a combination of perseverance, courage, determination and mental toughness. Someone has grit if they can push through even in the face of what seems like an impossible or dangerous situation. I think of those Marines at Belleau Wood or the Chosin Reservoir or even the Monford Point Marines. All three groups faced very different challenges, but all showed grit in the face of insurmountable odds.”

Like Shaye Haver, one of the first women Rangers, Higgins finds deep and abiding strength in her family support system.

“I have an amazing support system in my family. My husband (another Fat Albert pilot in the Blue Angels) is my rock who even when I doubt myself believes in me and pushes me to be better. My parents are unbelievably supportive and examples of unconditional love. Surrounding myself with those type of people gives me strength when I am weak. They allow me to dig deep even in the most difficult circumstances. My grit, my courage, my perseverance, my determination come from them and is for them. I refuse to ever let them down.”

Sounds a lot like earlier Grit Profile women BG Becky Halstead and LTC Tammy Barlette who both have said that quitting is not an option.

Developing grit is possible too, says Higgins.

“If you want to improve your Grit, you must challenge yourself. How you can you learn skills like perseverance, determination, and courage if you live a boring, comfortable life? You must take on situations outside your comfort zone.” Higgins has clearly done that. She’s got grit.

“Take on situations out of your comfort zone.”

What does Higgins think about the Marines’ decision to integrate women into combat ground forces?

“The Marine Corps has a standards,” Higgins said. “And that standard shouldn’t be adjusted. If there’s a woman that can meet that standard and she wants to do the job, well, good on ‘er!”

As for the reaction of today’s Marines, Higgins says “people don’t give this generation of Marines enough credit. They are so smart, so intelligent, so professional. They just want to know you can do the job.”

________________

Shannon H. Polson is a speaker, author of North of Hope: A Daughter's Arctic Journey, mountain lover, mom and founder of The Grit Project. She is one of the first women to pilot the Apache attack helicopter in the U.S. Army. She is also an Ambassador for FlyGirls the Series. Read more about Shannon at https://medium.com/@ABorderLife/.

She's Got Grit: The Very Few, The Very Proud.

by Shannon Huffman Polson

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="399.0"] LtCol Jen Nothelfer. (Photo: She's Got Grit/Jen Nothelfer) [/caption]

Jen Nothelfer's journey of leadership and grit began when she joined the Navy to prove she could when a boyfriend after college said she'd never get a flight assignment because she was a woman. After graduating college in her home state of Virginiawith a degree in business and paralegal work, she’d hoped to become a lawyer, but bombed the LSAT. A girlfriend suggested they train as flight attendants, so she flew for two years, taking the jump seat every time she could. 

Her boyfriend's comment changed everything. “He obviously didn’t know me,” she says. “That comment lit a fire in my belly.”

She started taking flight lessons at home, and when she went out flying with a friend, “I knew I had to do this.” Since Nothelfer was pursuing a flight contract in 1995, just two years after the lifting of combat exclusion, there were few women preceding her in the world of Naval aviation. When she first visited a recruiter, they offered her a supply position.

“I told them they could stuff that where the sun don’t shine,” she says.

She made her way to the Naval OCS and flight school, though due to a blown ACL from her soccer days she had to fight all the way to the Pentagon to get a flight slot. She finally landed in the Marine Corps flying the CH-46. 

Though she was a team player, things did not go smoothly. In OCS, just before meeting her husband, she was sexually assaulted by another student. 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="431.0"] Marine officer and pilot Jen Nothelfer on her CH-46E (Photo: She's Got Grit/Jen Nothelfer) [/caption]

“I never reported it. I just covered it up and put it away for the longest time,” she said. "I just wanted to get through flight school and get my wings."

One of the saving graces of her career was a small group of women she has known through her time in the military. 

“I had Navy and Marine aviator girlfriends,” she says. They helped her keep it real.

Early on at the fleet replacement squadron when Nothelfer was learning to fly the CH-46, she and another female officer went to the Officer’s Club (The O Club). 

“There were only three or four of us women in aviation slots on base,” she says. “I went to the bathroom partway through the evening. When I walked in I thought I’d gone into the wrong head. In the powder room there was a commander of one of the other squadrons, who was very married, and two other officers I didn’t know. Three of the waitresses were straddling them.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! I had to figure out what I was going to do, but I really had to pee. So I just said “hi there,” and walked back to the stalls. When I left I walked straight out of the club and drove home. I shouldn’t have been driving. But that’s when I knew how things were going to be. That event tainted my views of how squadron life was going to be. I looked at that and thought, 'You can choose to be better.' " 

As reality set in about the environment, Nothelfer made her way. 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] They all have grit: Nothelfer's female colleagues helped her through the hardest times in the Marines. To her left, Jennifer Merrill. Right, Suzanne Krauss. (Photo: She's Got Grit/Jen Nothelfer) [/caption]

"There was a woman in front of me at the fleet replacement squadron who performed poorly," she said. "When I came through, everyone judged me by how she had performed. I had a bad FAMO (the ground check ride) with an instructor who was trying to get at me, and I walked away from that finally understanding. That's never going to happen again. No one will ever have a reason to doubt me. I studied like a crazy person. Some of the guys started getting pissed off because I'd do so well. 

When I got to my first squadron, they scheduled me for a flight-- you might as well have called it a check ride. They were putting me through the ringer. I went out and I nailed it. I must have had the biggest grin on my face. There was still a lot of crap, but that set the tone for me as an aviator."

Overall, her first squadron experience was positive. “I’m still friends with my first commander and sergeant major,” she says. "They have had a lifelong impact on both leadership and values for me."

She wouldn’t be friends with everyone.

"That was one of my hardest decisions. Realizing not everyone would like me. I have a strong personality.  Driven, demanding, but insanely loyal.  Not everyone saw that.  I also covered myself with fairly thick armor – it was my way to survive.”

“You know what it’s like,” she tells me, and I do. “You get in that cockpit and know you’d better do better, fly better than anyone around you. You’re just waiting for someone to pull the rug out from under you. And then you worry about that other shit too.

You survive because you put that armor on. It doesn’t let anything in, but it doesn’t let anything out, either.”

If she were talking to herself as a new lieutenant, I’d say “Be true to yourself. Don’t try to put on someone else’s armor. It’s ok to be who you are. You’ll find your people…wait for them.”

Then Nothelfer hurt her back.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Grit in action: USMC officer and pilot Jen Nothelfer on mission. (Photo: She's Got Grit/Jen Nothelfer) [/caption]

“I was about to fly a mission with ten Marines in the back a few months before deployment. During preflight, I couldn’t feel my hands. I couldn’t feel my arms all the way up to my armpits.”

Alarmed, she told her copilot she wouldn’t be able to fly. She went back to fight operations and to her state room.

She heard the commanding officer coming down the hall long before he arrived at her room. “He was a woman hater,” she says. “He started banging on my door,” she said. “I opened it, and he said: ‘Get your shit on and get out to that bird.’

I told him I couldn’t feel my arms, and he repeated himself, more loudly: ‘Get your shit on and get out to that bird!’

I went to the flight surgeon. He sent me directly to the ER where they shot lidocaine straight into my back.”

That wasn’t the end of it, though. Nothelfer was pulled from the deployment.

“That was the lowest point of my career,” she said. “Having to go back on that ship and get my gear and walk off again was devastating.”

It was not the end of harassment. When a fellow woman officer discovered she was pregnant before a deployment, Nothelfer found herself standing at attention in front of the Group Commander. 

"When are you going to tell me you're pregnant, too?" he yelled.

Then there were the briefings when the commanding officer repeatedly referred to the "gents," despite the several women in the room.

At one briefing for a mission in Mogadishu, she'd had enough. 

"I guess this isn't a briefing for me," she said, and walked out.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="333.0"] The softer side of grit: USMC officer Nothelfer with her twin daughters Bridget, left, and Alexis (Photo: She's Got Grit/Jen Nothelfer) [/caption]

With respect to challenges, Nothelfer says “They made me who I am. I’ve moved past them. But if I see something today that doesn’t look right, smell right, watch out.”

What would Nothelfer tell a new leader today? "Stay true to your course. Work hard, play hard, and always give 100%." 

Nothelfer is proud of her career. “I’m proud of being one of the first women to fly in the Marines, and proud for sticking around,” she says. "I started to develop an internal dialogue: I can't quit. I still believe I am doing good for the mission and good for the Corps. I think there's some purpose for the pain and suffering."

When I ask why she stuck it out in the face of the constant harassment, she mentions her three daughters. “What kind of example would I set if I just left?” she asked. “I hope I might have made a difference for at least one person over my career. Maybe I've even changed the mind of one of these dinosaurs who are still around.”

Her most memorable experience recently came when she was asked to assist at the opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. "I was asked to accompany the family of Corporal Jason Dunham who would be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously," she says, and her voice breaks. She takes a moment to recover. "It was such an honor, such an incredible honor."

As for grit, Nothelfer clearly has it. "Grit is unstoppable determination," she says. 

Now Nothelfer works as a Marine Recruiting Support officer in the Reserves. Her husband is retiring after a full career on active duty next year.

With all she faced each day, “I feel so loyal to the Marines,” Nothelfer says. "For all the challenges, they are still my people."

“I didn't believe women could serve any useful purpose in the Marine Corps...Since then, I've changed my mind.” --General Thomas Holcomb, Commandant, USMC, 1936-1943.

The United States Marine Corps was founded November 10, 1775.   One hundred forty-three years later, in 1918, women were authorized to serve in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve performing mostly clerical duties to free up male Marines to serve overseas. That year, Opha Mae Johnson was the first woman to enlist, joining the Marine Corps Reserve in the rank of Private. Following her example, over 300 women, known as "Marinettes" enlisted and served until the end of the WWI. Opha Mae's service would inspire others to serve.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="273.0"] Opha Mae Johnson, America's "first" female Marine. (Photo: Mother Jones) [/caption]

In 1942, manpower shortages due to America's war on two fronts led to the need for the Marines to utilize women in a number of positions to free up men to fight. They were the last service to do so as the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard had already incorporated women. 

In February 1943, the Marines authorized the Women's Reserve with a call for 1,000 female officers and 18,000 enlisted. Directing the Women's Reserve was Colonel Ruth Cheney Streeter. During the war, women Marines served in the Continental United States and Hawaii, in non-combat roles, serving as secretaries, parachute riggers, mechanics, welders, radio operators, etc. By war's end the WR had nearly reached their goal with just over 800 female officers and more than 17,500 female enlisted.

Training for the Women's Reserve was no picnic. The women started the indoctrination process at Wilmington, North Carolina and eventually moved on to Camp LeJeune. Though they were in training, they were still expected to be "ladies". They were treated as schoolgirls and enlisted women were not assigned to a post unless there was a woman officer nearby. Camp LeJeune received some five hundred Women's Reserve trainees every two weeks. In the beginning only thirty-four types of jobs were open to women but by the end of the war, Women Reserves served in over 225 different specialties and comprised nearly two-thirds of the personnel at Marine Corps units.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="997.0"] Women Marines as parachute riggers. (Photo: Wikipedia) [/caption]

In 1948, women were finally integrated permanently into the regular Marines with the Women's Armed Services Integration Act. Colonel Katherine Towle was the first Director of the Women Marines.  She had been of the first officers in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve, called to active duty in 1943. She was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and served as Directorof the Women Marines for two years.

In 1949, the USMC would make history again with the enlistment of the first black women Marines but progress had a long way to go. When they were off base, black female Marines were still not welcome in white establishments (military or civilian) even when they were with other Marines.

Women Marines continued to prove their worth.  In 1960, Master Gunnery Sergeant Geraldine Moran became the first woman Marine promoted to E-9 and following year the Marines saw the promotion of the first woman to Sergeant Major, Bertha Peters Billeb. The Women's Reserves were activated for both the Korean and Vietnam wars serving both stateside and overseas. In 1967, Master Sergeant Barbara Jean Dulinksy became the first woman Marine to serve in a combat zone in Vietnam. The Marines limited the number of women who served in Vietnam, until 1966, only 60 female Marines were allowed to serve overseas and most of them were in Hawaii.  As to opportunities during this time, women officers were able to enter career training programs while enlisted women were encouraged into technical training. By the mid-1970s, all fields were open to women with the exception of infantry, artillery and aviation.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="200.0"] Colonel Gilda Jackson (Photo: MarineParents.com) [/caption]

The Marines continued its progress in equality when, in 1978, Colonel Margaret Brewer was promoted to Brigadier General, the first female general in Marine Corps history. Brewer, who had been commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1952, had steadily moved her way up through the ranks. As a Captain she had served as Commanding Officer of the Women Marine divisions at Norfolk and Camp LeJeune.

In 1993, 2nd Lt Sarah Deal became the first female Marine aviator accepted into Naval aviation training. Deal had begun her career as an air traffic controller but in 1993 when the US loosened its rules on women flying in combat aircraft, Deal jumped at the opportunity. She earned aviator’s wings in 1995.

In 1996, Lt. General Carol Mutter became the first female three-star officer in the United States Armed Forces. One year later, the first group of women Marines would complete the gender integrated Marine Combat Training Course at Camp Geiger. One year later, Gilda A. Jackson, Special Projects Officer of the Second Marine Aircraft Wing, became the first African American female Colonel in the Marines and first woman to command the Naval Aviation Depot at Cherry Point, North Carolina.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="566.0"] FlyGirl Vernice Armour. (Photo: Pinterest) [/caption]

A few years later, 1st Lieutenant Vernice Armour became the first black female combat in any of the five branches of service and a year later, she would be the first African American female combat pilot to fly combat missions in Iraq.

History would be made again in 2006 after Angela Salinas, a Marine since 1974, was the first hispanic woman Marine promoted to Brigadier General. That same year, Colonel Adele Hodges became the first woman to command Camp LeJeune, which included over 47,000 Marines and sailors. The following year, Sergeant Major Barbara Titus assumed command of the Marine Corps Installations West in 2007, overseeing the quality of life of more than 65,000 personnel and seven different installations. 

Major Jennifer Grieves holds the honor of being the first female helicopter in the USMC to pilot the HMX-helicopter "Marine One" which transports the President of the United States and   Marine One saw its first all-female crew during Major Grieves's final flight in 2009. Also that year, the first all-female Marine Team conducted its first mission in Afghanistan.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="468.0"] Brigadier General Loretta Reynolds at Parris Island. (Photo: USMC) [/caption]

In 2011, Brigadier General Loretta Reynolds was assigned to Command the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot at Parris Island, which trains some 20,000 Marines each year. She would be the first woman in Marine history to do so. In the year prior to that she became the first female Marine to command in a combat area when she deployed to Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan where she oversaw five Marine batallions and commanded a base of more than 10,000 Marines.

In 2012, Master Gunnery Sergeant Avril King, with nearly thirty years in the Marines, was the first female enlisted person to be chosen for the Congressional Fellowship Program. She worked in Congressman Joe Wilson's office and helped shape legislation and gave advice and input on defense matters in Congress.

Perhaps the boldest and most significant move for women's equality in the Marines was in 2016 when the Marine Corps announced the first assignment of women for infantry positions, thus opening up a number of never-before-had opportunities for training, leadership and advancement to women.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="634.0"] (Photo: Reuters) [/caption]

Women Marines have made great strides. Early on, when given the opportunity to serve their country, they not only met the challenge, they exceeded it. That tradition continues today. While women currently constitute just over seven percent of the Corps, their numbers are growing and they are recognized as an important mart of the Marine Corps mission.

On this 241st birthday of the Marines, we honor the struggle for equality endured by the women who have served and continue to do so and we thank them for their bold and courageous service. They make our country and our world a safer place and they inspire all women to never give up, to push forward and do things we may never have thought ourselves capable of doing. 

She's Got Grit: LtCol Sarah Deal Burrow, First Female Aviator In The USMC

by Shannon Huffman Polson

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="401.0"] Sarah Deal Burrow, USMC officer and aviator [/caption]

Sarah Deal Burrow joined the Marine Corps knowing she couldn’t fly. After growing up in a town of 1,000 outside of Toledo, Ohio, Deal grew up running cross country and track and playing basketball, raising a pig a year (one that she had to catch at a greased pig contest), and working on a dairy farm. She did 4-H for ten years and was heavily involved in her church youth group. “We had an annual drive your tractor to school day,” she remembers with a laugh.

She earned her pilot’s license for single and multi-engine commercial flight while in college at Kent State in Ohio, and competed on the precision flight team there. 

The daughter of a Marine, Deal only looked briefly at the Army, but her parents convinced her brother’s girlfriend to talk her out of it. Her father discouraged the Marines. He thought it was too rough, too dangerous. “He was a Marine in the 50s when they still made trainees to pushups and pullups until they threw up,” Burrow laughs. “But I’d always wanted to join.”

“I was hanging out at the airfield and ran into the Marine recruiters there,” she says. It didn’t take long for her to sign up, even though in 1992, though women had flown for the Navy two decades earlier, the Marines still weren’t permitting women in the cockpit.

Deal completed the Marine basic camp at Quantico, requested aviation maintenance and was assigned to aircraft control school. 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Deal and friend Karen Fine Brasch, naval aviator on board the U.S.S. Nimitz [/caption]

“I was halfway through aircraft controller school when Les Aspin lifted the flight restrictions on women,” Deal remembers. She read about it in the newspaper, and holding the article in her hand, called Marine headquarters, and said “This is what I want to do.” After a short pause, she continues: “I can’t imagine what that Colonel must have thought about a little second lieutenant calling up and telling him she’d read something in the newspaper.”

She was given a lateral transfer and arrived in Pensacola. “It sucked,” she says, of arriving at flight school. “I was a loner. I had to be. People who had been my friends at basic were no longer my friends. There was a small group of us that had gone on weekend trips together, celebrated birthdays together. I saw one of them when I arrived at Pensacola, and said “Hey! Let’s go do something!”

Her friend looked at her and said “I can’t.” When she asked why, he said “It wouldn’t be right.” 

She never talked to him again. 

“It was a really hurtful time,” she says. 

“I knew I was under the microscope, and that they were giving reports all the way back up to Marine Headquarters,” she says. 

Both the Navy and Coast Guard had a couple of women training when Deal was in Pensacola, and these women became friends (including Karen Fine Brasch, featured in last week’s Grit Profile). Deal also met her future husband while in flight training, an F14 Tomcat pilot who would later fly for United Airlines. The Marines wouldn’t send another woman to flight school for a full year after Deal arrived. 

Deal qualified in rotary wing and was stationed flying the CH-53Es on the west coast flying cargo and troop resupply.

“Nobody wanted me assigned to them,” she says. “I found this out years later. Finally the commanding officer of my first unit said: is she a qualified pilot? I don’t care if it’s a man or a woman, send her this way.” 

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Marine Corps trailblazer, aviator and leader Sarah Deal Burrow in the cockpit of the CH-53E in Lashkar Gah in Afghanistan [/caption]

The positive experience of her first unit did not continue into subsequent assignments. On one assignment she was prepared to deploy to Kuwait less than a year after the birth of her twin boys. “I was part of a seven ship armada leaving from San Diego to fight the war,” she says. 

The commanding officer decided to send her off the ship to take care of a rear detachment command. Just as the unit was preparing to redeploy, they called her back to ride the ship back to port. 

Deal thought she’d lost her final opportunity to fly and do what she had trained to do in a real world scenario, and in the meantime had missed precious time with her very young twin boys.

“I felt more like my boys’ aunt instead of their mom, as I saw pictures of them growing and wearing clothes and playing with toys I had not gotten for them. Even more difficult was when I returned home from deployment and my boys cried every time I tried to hold them,” she says. She decided to leave active duty for the reserves in order to have more time with her family.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] A USMC CH-53E doing sling load operations in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom [/caption]

Six years later, flying in the reserves with three children now at home, she deployed to the British base Camp Bastion in Afghanistan as part of the Marine Aviation Group 40. Their primary mission was to fly support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force.  “We flew six to seven hour missions every day,” Burrow says. “We hauled generators, moved diplomats and POWs, transported ballots for the elections,” she says. 

“We kind of got used to being shot at,” she said. At least with small arms fire.

On one flight Deal narrowly avoided being hit by a rocket propelled grenade. “It was scary as hell. I swear it was within our rotor arc.”

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Deal preflighting her USMC CH-53E [/caption]

“The opportunity to do a true combat deployment and fly made everything worthwhile,” she said. “Finally I could do what I’d been training to do for so many years.”

Even so, the deployment wasn’t easy. The group commanding officer “was intolerable,” she says. “There were three squadrons on the flight line and he hated every one of us. He made our lives miserable.”

Missions were schedules for six hours but frequently ran well over. One mission ran from a scheduled six hours, but "we had multiple mission changes, and by the time we finished we had eleven hours," she says, "most of it flight time." 

Deal recalls one of her most difficult missions. 

"On August 7th we took off for a routine mission we dropped off some Marines at a Cobra crash site for recovery effort and investigation then off to pick up some food and water externally.  We were on our way into the Golf Company of 2/8's zone to drop off the water and we had just checked in with the radio operator. 

The first call was calm, but then you heard the panic and out breath Marine asking us to pick up two wounded Marines. One of them was a double amputee. They had stepped on an IED during a patrol along the Helmand River. Technically we were not supposed to pick up any casualties because there was another helicopter unit assigned that mission. But hearing that Marine on the radio frantically asking us if we would take his two Marines to the Hospital at Dwyer, the thought of saying no never occurred to us. We were only a minute from the pickup zone. We quickly dropped our load of food and swung around to find the location of the wounded. They popped smoke (a military marking technique in tactical conditions, releasing colored smoke into the air) and we landed, very close to where the IED had gone off in a make-shift landing zone and picked them up. 

The young Marines were in really bad shape. Our corpsman on board did the best that he could to continue first aid and we flew directly to the aid station at Dwyer. When we landed the medics didn’t understand why we had landed, because casevac is not our mission, and so no one came to help. Our aircrew and corps carried both Marines off the helicopter.

I remember them not being able to hold the double amputee on the make-shift stretcher and dropping him in the sand. He seemed to look right at me. Finally we got the attention of the medics and they brought real stretchers over to help. We got the Marines off and I remember sitting there for a moment in silence. The other pilot asked the crew chief to clean all the blood off the deck in back. We still had to complete our mission and our next task was inserting more Marines. Later that day those 2 Marines died along with another one from Golf Company. Today I remember LCpl Dennis Burrow, LCpl Patrick Schimmel and LCpl Javier Olvera."  

Returning home wasn't easy, either. After a year away, though her boys were older, Deal realized she had missed major milestones of all three of her children while deployed. She found herself having trouble sleeping. “Out of the blue, I feel like I overreact to a situation,” she says, “or respond more emotionally than usual.”

After her deployment, she left the squadron to find assignments permitting her to have more time with family. “Nothing beats a good, strong family,” she says. “A wonderful family and good friends are keys to a happy life.” Sage and thoughtful advice from a combat veteran.

Still, Deal is proud of her years in service and getting to do what she loved in the Marine Corps. “Graduating from flight training, receiving those coveted wings of gold, and achieving the status as the first female aviator in the Marine Corps stand tall on my list of highlights,” she says. 

About grit, which she clearly has, Deal suggests: it is the stuff in inside you that allows you to get overcome obstacles and criticism. It is what keeps you moving forward to accomplish your goals.

What would Deal tell new lieutenants starting out today? She has a few direct pieces of advice. 

“Be strong. Do your job. Don’t expect anything special. And…know who your friends are.”

Major Sean Borland, USAF (ret) believes it's time to honor the WASP for their loyal and faithful service!

by Jess Clackum

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] (Photo credit: Sean Borland) [/caption]

Major Sean Borland served 22 years in the United States Marine Corps, Army and United States Air Force. A career Military Aviator with 4,700 hours, he began his career as a Chief Warrant Officer, AH-1 Cobra Pilot and AH-64A Instructor Pilot. He continued his career in the Air Force as an MH-53J/M and CV-22 Osprey Flight Lead, Instructor Pilot and Weapons Officer. Sean served overseas in the Army with two Korea tours and in the USAF with multiple combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. He currently flies an EC-145 for Memorial Hermann Life Flight in Houston, Texas.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] (Photo credit: Sean Borland) [/caption]

Maj Borland believes the WASP story is an important part of our history:

"It is essential and long overdue to tell the story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). The evolution of American military air power is incomplete without bringing to life the selfless service these pioneering female aviators provided to our great nation.

The sheer determination of these women is amazing. 25,000 women applied for the WASP program, 1,900 were accepted and only 1,074 earned their wings. They dealt with poor living conditions, the danger of flying early mass produced airplanes, discrimination, and limited or no benefits. However, despite all this, they showed that hard work, determination and skill aren’t gender specific.

The WASP flew some of the most difficult aircraft to fly like the B-26 Marauder and the most dangerous missions towing targets for anti-aircraft artillery.

I’ve had the good fortune as a career military aviator to serve with female combat aviators in Attack Helicopters and Special Operations aircraft. These modern day warriors are equally as capable as their male counterparts and a living testament to the dogged determination of the WASP to carve out a place for women in military aviation.

I’m the father of two daughters and have shared the WASP story with them. I’d love to see the WASP stories told to honor their loyal and faithful service to our great nation."

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400.0"] Sean Borland and daughter Hannah in the Collings Foundation UH-1E (Photo credit: Sean Borland) [/caption]




[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="400.0"] The Borland girls and UH-1E 153762 (Photo credit: Sean Borland) [/caption]

Thank you Major Borland for your long and dedicated service to our country and thank you for your support for the WASP, women aviators, and FlyGirls Series!

Major Becky Hagner, USMC Helicopter Pilot, Test Pilot.

by Jess Clackum

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Maj Becky Hagner, USMC [/caption]

Major Hagner is a USMC helicopter pilot and 2012 graduate of the United States Naval Test Pilot School. After nearly 11.5 years of active duty service, she is transitioning to the USMC Reserves. Her flight experience includes both combat deployments and developmental flight test with the MV-22 Osprey. Becky holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and MSE in Systems Engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

In 2010, Becky had the honor of escorting Mrs. Barbara Donahue Ross at the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony. Ross, who flew the PT-19, BT-13, UC-78, C-47, and B-24, was the 16th member of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Service, the predecessor to the WASP.

Major Hagner was heavily influenced by the WASP. She says, "I had read about the WASP while in college, and their story was a huge inspiration to me. Participating in the Congressional Gold Ceremony was one of the highlights of my career. It was such an honor to be represent the Marine Corps as an escort while this select group of women, who paved the way for female aviators in the military, received the recognition they deserved after so many years."

Thank you Major Hagner for your service and for supporting the WASP and FlyGirls!

 

Former Senior Enlisted Leaders From the Five Branches Come Together To Help Veterans!

by Jess Clackum

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500.0"] Jack L. Tilley, 12th Sergeant Major of the Army, Alford L. McMichael, 14th Sergeant Major, US Marine Corps, James L. Herdt, 9th Master Chief Petty Officer of the US Navy, Frederick J. Finch, 13th Chief Master Sergeant of the US Air Force, Vincent W. Patton III, 8th Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard. (Photo credit: Pinnacle Five, LLC) [/caption]

Pinnacle Five, LLC is a group of five senior enlisted military leaders dedicated to taking care of military veterans and their families.Pinnacle Five's leadership consists of five men with 165 years of combined military experience:

Their mission is to help veterans and their families transition to civilian life productively by educating the public about the value of hiring veterans and gaining corporate commitment to provide jobs, housing, and mentoring for veterans/families; serving as a bridge between the Veteran community and resources available to them.; and strengthening citizenship by connecting corporate support and veterans in educational outreach targeted to schools where we prepare kids to be citizens.

On the importance of their mission, Vince Patton says,

"The most important thing we can do is help Veterans realize their value in the commercial world.I can say from personal experience that one of the most important stages in the life of a service member is their transition out of uniform and into the civilian sector.

Business needs a seat at the table with Congress, the Departments of Labor, Veterans Affairs and Defense in delivering a responsive, innovative 21st Century solution to our transitioning service members.

Now we have an agenda. We've got to get inside the heads and hearts of Veterans and show them what they're worth. We have to help them translate the valor of their service to the ability to lead in their business lives and careers."

Check out the amazing work they do at pinnaclefive.com

Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas, USMC Captain

by Jess Clackum

Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas was a United States Marine Corps officer for 8 years, serving as a Military Police Officer stateside and in Al Anbar, Iraq. She was also a leader of new women Marines, training recruits at Parris Island as both a Series and Company Commander.

Currently Dr. Thomas is an assistant professor of public health at Charleston Southern University where she researches military mental fitness. She has just released her newest book. Brave, Strong, and True: The Modern Warrior's Battle for Balance is available at www.bravestrongtrue.com

"The tremendous worth of FlyGirls is the work it will do to pave the way for healthy transitions for today's military women. Through the stories of courageous, yet entirely human women, we can learn about the experiences of a prior generation of veterans, about the shoulders upon which we stood during our own time in service.  Ultimately, through stories like these we learn about ourselves -  about sacrifice,  resiliency, loss, and duty."

"The very word veteran calls to mind the image of a man. Yet, according to the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, there are currently over 1.6 million women veterans in the United States. Of these, 30% are post-9/11-era veterans. Many of these women served in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their participation throughout the spectrum of military operations, including in ground combat, is a first in our nation’s history.  Their experiences reintegrating into society after their military service have yet to be recorded, examined, and told.

Women veterans share many of the concerns of male veterans; yet they also face unique issues, especially when it comes to accessing services offered by veteran service organizations, and in their personal paths to finding a congruent self-concept that encompasses their identities as veterans as well as women, and, often, mothers. Indeed, compared to their non-veteran counterparts, women veterans are more likely to both be divorced and to have children. In addition, women veterans are more likely than male veterans to live in poverty, and to have no income and no health insurance.

This year, I am trying to contribute to the community I call home by sharing stuff that is hard to chat about around the Thanksgiving table. My book, Brave, Strong, & True: The Modern Warrior’s Battle for Balance hit stores and online retailers this month. It is my attempt to talk about something important, and to honor my responsibility to continue to serve even after leaving the active duty Marine Corps. My watch is over, but I am far from disconnected; the military will always be home.

Despite the vast news coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, one figure has remained mysterious: the number of suicides among US servicemen and women, compared to combat casualties. Here’s one statistic to contemplate: In 2012, the US military lost 295 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines in combat in Afghanistan. But over this same time period, 349 took their own lives.  

Right now, we are losing more veterans to suicide than to combat. I’m a pretty decisive person with limited ability to ask for help and zero trouble-taking risks; there was a time I could have become one of those statistics.  

Those figures are mysterious because even as we throw money and resources at clinical mental health treatment and blame rising rates on multiple deployments, the answers are elusive. The narrative of the “broken veteran” struggling with combat stress just doesn’t ring quite true to those of us who served over the last decade, and the issue is more complicated than simple statistics can show.

I became a Marine to serve, and I loved being part of the Corps. As with anything I have ever loved intensely, the military changed and shaped me. To the casual observer looking in, the world seems brutal and intense. That casual observer isn’t entirely wrong—the military is some of those things. Shared hardship and challenge are vital parts of the refining and rebuilding process that changes a civilian into a warrior. If you ask anyone who served, they wouldn’t have it any other way. No one wants what comes easily or is handed to just anyone.

That process of obstacles, mastery experience, and shared suffering offers growth and transformation, but coming back to civilian life afterward can be incredibly hard. Standards are different. Camaraderie is different. Culture is absolutely different. I witnessed firsthand the toll that leaving the service took on many of us.

Stressful work environments, high rates of divorce and domestic violence, family separation, and repeated combat deployments all contributed, but the biggest reason for the reintegration problems many of us faced is cultural. We subscribe to unbalanced notions of what it means to be a warrior, and uphold silent suffering as virtue. Mistakes are shameful; pain is weakness. Saying that something is hard or stressful just isn’t done.

I don’t want to contribute to the silence that surrounds these issues anymore. Too many aspects of warrior culture are destructive lies we tell ourselves.

Who are we maintaining this veneer for?

What do we have to prove anymore?

Constant invulnerability is an illusion, and cultural mandates to be “together” in every way become dangerously prescriptive. We lose our authenticity in this way; we don’t know how to reach out to each other when stresses start to overwhelm. Too many of us who are used to appearing strong would, indeed, rather consider suicide than admit to being human, fallible, or broken.

My own public story was of crisp uniforms, physical fitness metrics, and successes. I always looked good on paper. My private story involved destructive choices, broken doors and holes in the walls, hiding weapons in the house, and getting dragged across the living room floor by my hair. I was as far from God as a person could be but had no idea at the time.

As a Marine Officer, I was not supposed to make mistakes, feel depressed, or need help. But I did. Tough places and situations became tougher because I didn’t know that people might be okay with an imperfect version of me. For too long I chose silence over reaching out to loved ones. I opted for deeply felt, visceral shame over openness and vulnerability.  

When serving in the military we are trained to lead with confidence. Presenting a certain and effective façade requires some incredibly useful skills. We make decisions quickly and responsively, but these very same skills become incredibly destructive when we never learn how to turn them off. This description fits most service members. We tend to be a driven, almost comically dysfunctional, lot.

What if I told you that I am not perfect?

I want to discuss strategies with you - including social support, self care, and spiritual practice - for all of us to meet the challenge of living purposeful lives. This is my attempt to contribute to the dialogue about connecting with veterans in this country after the last two wars. The book is a mix of stories from veterans, behavioral health research, and just a bit of practical guidance. Thank you for reading it. Thank you for caring. Thank you for having the conversation about balance with the military-connected people in your life. Whether you are a veteran, a family member, a military commander, mental health professional, or an everyday citizen who can identify with the title “warrior,” I appreciate you for engaging."

Order Kate’s new book, Brave Strong True: The Modern Warrior’s Battle for Balance, here or at your favorite book retailer.