Women in the Military
the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). This military program for college
students prepares them for joining the military. But her adviser said, “Defending
our nation should be left to the strong, and it’s no place for a woman.” It was
MJ’s first experience with sexual discrimination. It would not be her last.
Despite the discouraging words, MJ joined the Air Force ROTC in college
and took classes to train as an air force officer. She got top grades. However,
she was not selected for pilot training because she failed the physical exam due
to a knee injury. Only 20 percent of air force service members become pilots.
The rest choose a related specialty. MJ selected aircraft maintenance. When she
reported to her first commander at her assigned post in Japan in April 2000,
the major told her, “Lieutenant, the first time your time of the month gets in the
way of doing your job, you’re fired. Now get out of my office.”
Over the next two years, MJ excelled at everything she did, from leading
teams of skilled aircraft mechanics to performing complex repairs. She even
used her own money to pay for civilian flight school. Yet despite excellent ratings,
the air force never selected her to become a pilot. On top of that disappointment,
an air force flight surgeon conducted an intrusive physical exam on MJ. The
surgeon spoke to his commander about it. Minutes later, his commander called
MJ to his office and asked if she wanted to press charges against the surgeon.
Her own commander joined them to discuss her options. MJ decided she wanted
to try to forget what had happened, and she declined to press charges against
the flight surgeon. “I left the air force a few weeks later. [The doctor], as far
as I know, stayed on.”
MJ joined the New York Air National Guard in 2004. She hoped the
National Guard would treat her with the respect her experience and abilities
called for. She finally got her dearest wish. “My first time flying a jet was mind
blowing. . . . Executing the acrobatic maneuvers approaching 250 miles [402
km] per hour was as close to heaven as I will likely ever get.” After acing a
particular difficult maneuver, she grinned at the instructor sitting next to her in the
cockpit. MJ described the moment—and the instructor’s comment. “That was the
best spin recovery I’ve seen . . . from a chick.”
After several years in the Air National Guard, MJ and other members
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