Women's leadership discussion: 'Why are women leaving the Air Force'

  • Published
  • By Desiree N. Palacios
  • Air Force News Service
WASHINGTON (AFNS) --  Deployments, starting a family, bad mentorship and losing passion for the job are just a few reasons mentioned by uniformed and prior-service women during a panel discussion about why women are leaving the Air Force, at the Joint Women's Leadership Symposium here June 7.

The Air Force panel discussion included Lt. Col. Tiaa Henderson, the Policy Integration Branch chief; Chief Master Sgt. Trae King, the 633rd Air Base Wing, Joint Base Langley-Eustis command chief; Ms. Gail Lee, prior Air Force major and Resources Directorate under the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force management analyst; and Capt. Amanda Mason, a reservist and founder of Project Enyo. The moderator of the panel was Lt. Col. Tammy Hinskton, the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs Integrated Plans and Strategy Branch chief.

In a room filled with approximately 150 Airmen and civilians, these women shared their thoughts on why women continue to stay in the Air Force or decide to get out of the service.

"The Air Force was the best decision I ever made," King said. "The Air Force has a sense of family and being apart of something."

King explained that, "I never thought once I came in that I was getting out, but as a master sergeant I considered becoming an officer," she said. "I went into my officer's office and said I'm going to be a second lieutenant and she looked me in the face and said, 'Why in the world would you want to be a second lieutenant when you're going to make chief one day?'"

Lee, who served 11 years as an Air Force officer, said she would have stayed in the military, but had plans of getting married to another service member.

"Once we got married there just came a time. It was really a tough decision, because I really didn't want to get out. I was really loving it (the Air Force)," Lee said. "I had been in 11 years, but it just wasn't going to meet all my goals, which then involved raising a family. I have two kids now and I just wasn't ready, but I think I would have stayed in."

Mason joined the Air Force as a linguist, but decided to get out at her six-year mark.

"I thought I had a very valuable skill set in which to use on the outside, but I didn't have a bachelor's degree at the time," Mason said. "I went to the reserve. I went back to school and as a staff sergeant in the reserve. I really missed it.

Mason added that, "I had all those years of experience of getting shot at ... fired at ... real life experience that I didn't think college life offered me. I had to listen to 18-21 year olds complain about the world when they hadn't been out there yet. As soon as Iraqi Freedom came out I volunteered and came right back to active duty."

Mason said she thoroughly enjoyed her deployment.

"That is what really changed my life. I had an opportunity to be a translator," she said. "I was passionate about the mission, but ... once you lose that passion for a job I think you start changing your mind a little bit. So I think it's important to find the right opportunities to help you meet what your personal goals are as well as the opportunity in the Air Force to match those."

Henderson said that she had great mentors that taught her to reach out and talk to people and find out what they need. She said you can't always expect leadership to know what you are thinking. She stressed Airmen need to reach out and ask questions as well.

"Treat others as you would like to be treated; if you were mentored, mentor other people."

King believes that, from a single person's perspective, it's not always easy to keep up with the ops tempo as an Airman, and do what's necessary to get to the next level. "It's pretty difficult if you're mil-to-mil, you're a single parent and trying to take care of your child working 10 hours a day.

"You know that is very challenging and I know my Airmen talk to me about the lack of leadership. So many leaders are so interested in their next job that we are forgetting about the Airmen.

"We aren't really giving them training. We are promoting them at a fast rate to try to keep the retention rates up, but we aren't giving them the training that they need and then we are shooting them out into leadership positions and expecting them to be perfect.
As soon as they make a mistake we are then pushing them out the door or out of the Air Force ... so a lot of Airmen have a bad taste in their mouth about the military," King said.

Lee said she had no expectations of the military. She just went with things as they came and she still keeps that same perspective in the civilian world.

"The civilian world is very similar," she said. "It almost as if you are planning for your next PCS, so you have that same element -- you're looking for that next job. There is less structure in the civilian world, so whatever you put into it you will get out of it. There are a lot of things to keep your eye on, but being close to the military makes me feel comfortable."

Henderson talked about the importance supervisors play in the experience and growth of Airmen and used an example of her early days when she had to share a computer with a co-worker who played solitaire all day.

"I would actually have to tell him to finish what he was doing so I can actually do my work," she said. "That was my initial welcome to the Air Force and I thought 'Wow! This isn't what I had anticipated ... you know the high standards that I had expected.'

"But fortunately I kept on going and gave my best effort and it paid off as I moved forward. I had better supervisors and I think quite often it's a matter of what people are going through at the moment and that may not be the Air Force culture as a whole.

"Overall, I think all my expectations were met, but I could have been easily discouraged at the onset based on that supervisor. That's why supervision is so important," Henderson said.

Another problem many women face in the Air Force is balancing family life with work.
Henderson said that women need to know when to ask for help when they need it.

"Too often women put on a facade and say everything is great. 'I've got it all together and I can take on the world.' And we can. We are capable women, but sometimes we need help. They may not be saying that, but they have help so don't be afraid to use that network. Make plans with friends to watch their kids one week and switch the next week."

King said to that women shouldn't take for granted the time they have with family.

"I was so busy trying to make a better life for my daughter I missed her life. I woke up and she was 18 years old and gone and the Air Force had taken so much of my time and effort. So I'm thinking, 'man she is living in a nice house, driving a nice car, she has a nice life and things. She's happy. She's good to go, but I took for granted that sometimes she just wanted some 'mommy time,'" King said. "So make sure that you know how valuable your quality time is with your family."

Sheila Earle, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, made the point that women are very accomplished and should never underestimate themselves.

"Women are very competent at what they do. They have choices. When you made your choice it wasn't because you had no choice."