Col. Jeannie Leavitt in her F-15E Strike Eagle at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. Leavitt, the first female fighter pilot, now commands the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson. (Air Force photo courtesy 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs)
Col. Jeannie Leavitt at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. Leavitt, the first female fighter pilot, now commands the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson. (Air Force photo courtesy 4th Fighter Wing Public Affairs)
3/1/2013 - FORT MEADE, Md. (AFNS) -- After Col. Jeannie Leavitt finished pilot training at the top of her class in 1992, she was given her first choice of aircraft, with a few restrictions. Her first choice, the F-15 Strike Eagle, wasn't yet an option for female pilots.
"I was told you finished No. 1, but you cannot pick a fighter," Leavitt said. "You cannot pick a bomber. You cannot pick a special ops aircraft. There was a whole list of aircraft I couldn't fly, and I was directed to choose among the other aircraft."
Fortunately for Leavitt and all female Airmen with similar aspirations, the following year then-Defense Department Secretary Les Aspin ordered all service branches to drop restrictions on women flying combat missions. Leavitt became the Air Force's first female fighter pilot and later the service's first woman to graduate from the Air Force Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. Almost two decades later, she's been the nation's first female fighter wing commander since she assumed command of the 4th Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., in 2012.
While she recognizes her place in Air Force history, Leavitt prefers emphasizing her role as an officer and commander. When she learned she would be flying the F-15 while she was in the middle of T-38 Talon pilot instructor training at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, Leavitt didn't care about publicity or the chance to make history. She just wanted to fly in fighters.
"When we first discussed it, the individual from headquarters I was talking to mentioned there would be a lot of publicity since I would be the first (woman)," she said. "What I told him was I didn't want the publicity, but I really want to fly fighters. The thing was, I wanted to be a fighter pilot. It was part of who I was and what I wanted to do. The notoriety and publicity wasn't what I wanted, but it came due to the timing."
Not everyone was happy about the defense secretary's decision, and Leavitt had to prove herself to those who questioned her abilities because of her gender.
"A lot of times people were resistant because it was change, and a lot of times people don't like change," she said. "Some people weren't in favor of the change that happened and didn't want women flying fighters. In many cases when I'd show up, once they saw I was competent, and I was a skilled pilot, and I wasn't trying to change their whole world, they became much more accepting of me."
Leavitt flew more than 2,500 hours in the F-15, including 300 combat hours, mostly in Afghanistan and Iraq. Maj. Gen. Lawrence L. Wells, 9th Air Force commander, flew the F-16 Fighting Falcon as an operations officer with Leavitt during Operation Southern Watch in 1996.
He recalls surprise when he first saw her at a mass pre-mission briefing because he didn't know any women were deployed in the area of responsibility at that time. But the surprise soon turned into admiration as he observed Leavitt, especially during a mission supporting a Royal Air Force Tornado GR1 during a threat of an Iraqi Roland surface-to-air missile. He could sense her professionalism and skill as he listened to tapes of her radio calls during the de-briefing after the mission.
"I remember thinking how cool and calm she sounded during the entire time," Wells said. "It was all just a very professional, well-run response to a potential threat, and I remember thinking at that time, 'This female fighter pilot is going to go far in our Air Force.'"
He also described the young F-15 pilot as "a great wingman," a trait he thinks will serve her well as a commander.
"We value in our young officers the ability to be in the right place at the right time," Wells said. "That's what a real wingman does. At the time, she was a great wingman, which in my view, makes her a better leader. Because you really have to know how to follow before you can lead. You have to understand what Airmen are thinking and how your Airmen are dealing with issues and what your young Airmen are focused on. Now having been a great wingman, she can be a great commander."
When Wells introduced Leavitt at her change of command ceremony at Seymour Johnson AFB in June, he chose his words carefully. Despite the historical significance of her career, Leavitt prefers recognition as an Air Force officer and commander. Wells chose remarks that would strike the same tone.
"I had some very specific things I wanted to say about her, and how I had seen her, not only in combat during Southern Watch, but also from kind of following her career," Wells said. "What I did not want to do in my speech was to highlight the fact that she was the first female commander. I was very sensitive to say the Air Force actually picked the right person to be in the right job at the right time, which I think speaks more for her as a professional Air Force officer, who, oh, by the way, just happens to be a female."
Leavitt now commands one of only three Air Force units with the Strike Eagle, along with 5,000 active-duty members and 12,000 civilians. Looking back on the progress women have made in her 20 years in the Air Force, the biggest difference she's seen is women in fighter squadrons are no longer unusual as she was in 1993.
"One thing that's changed is women are no longer a novelty," Leavitt said. "When I started flying fighters in 1993, there were no other women. So there were no female instructor pilots, no flight commanders and no squadron commanders. So it was quite a novelty to have a female in the fighter squadron. The good news is this opportunity opened up, and quite a few women followed in my path."
Comments
3/5/2013 7:31:29 AM ET Now this Female Airman will be worthy of a 4th star and Majcom Commander position someday. I recall a recent case where the selected individual had been to 2 stateside bases and never out of the US out of a 30 something year career. Charge on Col Leavitt.
Dave, Fl
3/4/2013 11:47:22 AM ET The article isn't about gender it's about recognizing someone who has greatly contributed to the evolution of air power history. Regardless of wanting publicity it is still an event in history of where the AF has been and where it is headed. If we refuse to look at where we've been we lose sight of where we're going. The very changes that have occurred leads to the idealism of equality we have today. It is a time to reflect and realzie we've come a long way to make things better. Now women can serve in combat roles. Until the generational stigma is gone which will take a few more generations these articles are a good reminder that change can be made. The discussion comments so far have reflected the left and right side views which don't make either point right.
John, TX
3/4/2013 11:14:23 AM ET Ask anyone from the Air Force Academy's Class of 1980 if merit was the only thing that mattered.
PB, US
3/4/2013 1:05:01 AM ET Mr. Mahoney your comments are as bigoted against religious tenants as any gender ethnic or lifestyle stereotype. As un-PC as the Majors comment may be they are exactly correct. The only thing I factor into decisions about promotion performance ratings and decorations is job-focused merit. Period. Equality will never be attained in any organization while individual groups are allowed to highlight gender ethnic or lifestyle differences.
Realistic, Remote
3/3/2013 6:43:11 AM ET Maj Home for a change it would not be necessary to run stories about the achievements of women gays and African Americans in the US armed services if the USA were a country in which the only thing that determined your success in the US armed forces was your merit. Unfortunately in the US armed services being meritorious alone does not suffice it never has and it likely never will. Bigotry often with its roots in an unthinking and extreme set of religious tenets has always triumphed over merit in the USA. The armed forces simply reflect the wider values of the nation. And that is why the stories about extraordinary women gays and African Americans who triumph against the bigotry of their fellow countrymen will always need to be told nay trumpeted from the rooftops.
Richard Mahony, Cairns
3/2/2013 6:54:30 PM ET Bravo Maj I completely agree
Brian, FL
3/1/2013 6:31:47 PM ET STAAAHP Stop the stories about women doing something. Stop the stories about men doing something not that those exist. Stop the stories about minorities doing something. And please don't start stories about homosexuals doing something. Do stories about Airmen doing something regardless of anything that could define them other than the fact that they are Airmen. The fact that they are airmen and that they did something is all that matters.
Maj, Home for a change
3/1/2013 4:08:52 PM ET When I started flying fighters in 1993 there were no other women... Not in the USAF maybe. Don't forget the Russkis had been employing women pilots in front line squadrons several decades previously during the Great Patrotic War
