Balance keeps trailblazer on course

  • Published
  • By Annette Crawford
  • Air Force Print News
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AFPN) --  Betty Mullis is quick to speak about her inspirations. The retired Air Force major general served more than 33 years on active duty and in the Guard and Reserve, and accomplished many firsts along the way. Now she uses that wealth of experience and inspires other women to advance in their careers.

The general was inducted into the Pioneer Hall of Fame during the 17th International Women in Aviation Conference in Nashville, Tenn., on March 25.

“Who cannot be inspired when one is surrounded by these WASP?” she asked, referring to the World War II-era Womens Airforce Service Pilots who were at the conference. “You opened doors a lot of women have been able to walk through.”

She attributed her achievements to the people she worked with over the years.

“I don’t look back at (my career) as things I’ve done,” she said. “I look back on it as things we’ve done. And in ‘we’ I mean the people that I have worked with for the 33 and a half years that I spent wearing the uniform on active duty, in the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything. I just happen to be the recipient of some accolades that other people deserve,” she said.

She also cites leaders such as retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeanne Holm as one of her inspirations. General Holm, who was director of the Women in the Air Force among her many accomplishments, was also inducted into the hall of fame.

“Find a mentor who will tell you you’re having a bad hair day,” General Mullis said. “If you surround yourself with people who won’t tell you the truth, you’re hurting yourself.”

Organizations such as Women in Aviation International are important career-makers, she said. She has been instrumental in getting more military members to attend the annual conference. This year was a record-high of nearly 200 servicemembers out of 3,000 total attendees.

“I think it’s important for military women to be involved because of the leadership, the seminars and the opportunities that are available here -- to be able to meet our heritage, to be able to meet women in the aviation industry,” she said.

“This conference is focused around aviation. In the Air Force we are focused around aviation … not just flying airplanes but everything that goes with flying airplanes,” General Mullis said. “So to be able to meet with women in industry and women from other units and other programs -- women who face the same sorts of challenges, professionally and personally -- I think it’s very important.

“And if nothing else, to come away motivated, to go back and say, ‘OK, I’m going to make a difference,” she said.

Some of the firsts that General Mullis achieved during her career include being the first woman in the Air Force Reserve to command a flying squadron -- and second in the entire Air Force. She was also the first woman in the entire Air Force to command a flying wing in 1996.

In 2000, she became the first woman pilot in the Air Force to attain the rank of brigadier general. Then two years later she was the first woman pilot to pin on two stars.

“We’ve come a long way,” the general said, “but there are still firsts out there to achieve.”

One of her maintenance supervisors once told her, “Ma’am, you have to tell people to quit saying you’re the first because we know who you are and what you are and we don’t want people to think you’re our commander just because of a record.”

“And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s probably the best compliment I ever received,’” she said.

The general, who now flies for Federal Express, said her parents were always there to encourage her.

“They never told me there were things that girls weren’t supposed to do,” she said. “I was lucky enough to have been raised on a farm and my parents knew I moved to the beat of a different drummer and they did not discourage my path at all.”

General Mullis said if she could give one piece of advice to women in the military, it would be to “do the best job you can in the job you have today. When you do that, someone will recognize it and those people will recognize that strength and talent and find ways to help you succeed in your own goals.”