First All Female Crew in USAF completes Combat mission

[MKSheppard]

From left to right, Staff Sgt. Josie E. Harshe, flight engineer; Capt. Anita T. Mack, navigator; 1st Lt. Siobhan Couturier, pilot; Capt. Carol J. Mitchell, aircraft commander; and loadmasters Tech. Sgt. Sigrid M. Carrero-Perez and Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo, pause in the cargo bay of their C-130 for a group photo following their historic flight. U.S. Air Force photo

First All-female Crew Flies Combat Mission

A crew of six Airmen at a forward deployed location climbed aboard a
C-130 Hercules together recently for the first time

By U.S. Air Force Capt. Michael G. Johnson
386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

SOUTHWEST ASIA, Sept. 27, 2005 — A crew of six Airmen at a forward deployed location climbed aboard a C-130 Hercules together recently for the first time in their careers. But something distinguished this mission from others they had flown --it was the first time an all-female C-130 crew flew a combat mission.


Capt. Carol Mitchell, aircraft commander; 1st Lt. Siobhan Couturier, pilot; Capt. Anita T. Mack, navigator; Staff Sgt. Josie E. Harshe, flight engineer; and loadmasters Tech. Sgt. Sigrid M. Carrero-Perez and Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo are all permanently assigned to the 43rd Airlift Wing at Pope Air Force Base, N.C., and currently are deployed to the 737th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron flying cargo and troops in and out of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa.

"It was a great experience not many females can say they’ve had, however I don’t believe the Air Force should seek out all-female crews -- instead, we should focus on experience."
U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo

While some would call their mission “historic,” they feel this mission should be recognized like every other flight -- a successful combat mission.

“I enjoyed flying with this crew, but I don’t think we should go out of our way to have all-female crews,” said Captain Mitchell. “It took a long time for women to become accepted as aircrew members, and now that we are, we would be taking a step back by singling ourselves out rather than blending in with the rest of the Air Force.”

Airman Alonzo agrees. “It was a great experience not many females can say they’ve had,” she said. However I don’t believe the Air Force should seek out all-female crews -- instead, we should focus on experience.

“(The Air Force) should have the best crews they can put together. Nothing other than qualification and ability should be considered,” said Captain Mack.

Not only did this all female crew fly together for the first time, 6,800 miles from home-station, but they flew the mission on a Vietnam-era airplane -- a significance the crew did not miss.

“Our (aircraft) was a 1962 model. (It) came off the line when women weren’t accepted as C-130 aircrew, let alone in combat,” said Sergeant Harshe.

After the excitement of this all-female C-130 crew flying the first combat mission together wore off, they focused on what really mattered.

“(What matters is) knowing we’re making a difference and seeing it with every mission we fly,“ said Airman Alonzo. "(It's also) moving troops into the theater where they’re needed, seeing the excitement and relief on the faces of the guys and gals we take out of theater who have been there for six months to a year and are on their way home to their loved ones."

During the mission, the crew transported 151 Marines and their equipment.

Another thing they all agreed upon, the mission was a true experience.

“It was a fun thing to be able to say you did, if only once. Not that it is better, this was just different, and probably won’t happen for us again anytime soon just because of the sheer numbers,” said Sergeant Harshe.

Captain Mitchell said one additional benefit of this all female flight was gaining a different perspective.

“One way to avoid (complacency) is to mix the crews up a little, fly with some different people to get a different perspective,” she said. “And what better way to mix the crews up than by putting all the girls on the same crew?”

While the all-female crew did accomplish a unique milestone together, they point out that the significance of their mission success is that every crewmember achieved personal goals to get there.

“I encourage any girl or woman to do what she wants. Too often I hear people say they can’t do something (but it is) because they don’t realize they have the opportunity,” Captain Mack said. “I would tell any person flying is an attainable goal for anyone who wants to work for it. As they say, you are only limited in what you can do by what you can dream.”

[Jason von Evil]

chicks in uniform

"Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!"

That was the first thing to come to mind when I saw that picture.

[Mr Bean]

Premetive, I do her her and her joke insert here.

And I'm wondering why this counts as a combat mission... Sounds like they did nothing more than ferry the marines and their equipment to their desitnation. Did not take any fire nor fly over any anti-aircraft sites in any countries that hate us or anything.

[WyrdNyrd]

And I'm wondering why this counts as a combat mission...

Anything that isn't training is combat?

Of course, the real reason this is a combat mission, is PR.

[Col. Crackpot]

Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo looks like she could rip my arms out of their sockets and beat me over the head with them. Oh yeah, and the pilot is a hottie.

[Jalinth]

And I'm wondering why this counts as a combat mission...

Anything that isn't training is combat?

Of course, the real reason this is a combat mission, is PR.

This might be an American thing. I've heard jokes that the US issues medals for "international" duty if you come up to that violent, nasty place called Canada. But I genuinely don't consider airlife to be a "combat" assignment - combat support or service support (your ground forces term), yes. But not combat.

[Mr Bean]

And I'm wondering why this counts as a combat mission...

Anything that isn't training is combat?

Of course, the real reason this is a combat mission, is PR.

This might be an American thing. I've heard jokes that the US issues medals for "international" duty if you come up to that violent, nasty place called Canada. But I genuinely don't consider airlife to be a "combat" assignment - combat support or service support (your ground forces term), yes. But not combat.

Any time away from CONUS is international time assuming you spend a full year there. If you spend a year in Cananda or a year in Korea it does not matter as long as it's outside CONUS.

[Kamakazie Sith]

This might be an American thing. I've heard jokes that the US issues medals for "international" duty if you come up to that violent, nasty place called Canada. But I genuinely don't consider airlife to be a "combat" assignment - combat support or service support (your ground forces term), yes. But not combat.

It symbolizes that you've served in that location, it has nothing to do with how hostile a country is. That's an entirely different set all together.

However, Korea would probably be more distinguished as far as service locations go.

[Golan III]

this was hardly the first all-female crewed flight...it has happened many times before on KC-135 tanker aircraft, C-17 airlift aircraft, etc...

also these are logged as "combat" flights as yes indeedy people are shooting at them. It may just be Haji and his durka-durkistani friends out there shooting AKs at the planes overhead, but small arms fire is incoming fire, and all it takes is the "golden BB" to kill a crewmember or take out a critical system. Also, there is regular small arms, RPG, mortar, and MANPAD activity in the area, and SAFIRE events like that are taken seriously.

btw I am a crewmember as well, and this is what I do for a living. I fly on C-17s.

[FSTargetDrone]

this was hardly the first all-female crewed flight...it has happened many times before on KC-135 tanker aircraft, C-17 airlift aircraft, etc...

also these are logged as "combat" flights as yes indeedy people are shooting at them. It may just be Haji and his durka-durkistani friends out there shooting AKs at the planes overhead, but small arms fire is incoming fire, and all it takes is the "golden BB" to kill a crewmember or take out a critical system. Also, there is regular small arms, RPG, mortar, and MANPAD activity in the area, and SAFIRE events like that are taken seriously.

btw I am a crewmember as well, and this is what I do for a living. I fly on C-17s.

What about WASPs? Did any of them die as a result of enemy action, or in accidents?

[FSTargetDrone]

Blast, scratch my last post.

History of WASPs:

Thirty eight Women Airforce Service Pilots gave their lives during World War II

[Wicked Pilot]

And I'm wondering why this counts as a combat mission... Sounds like they did nothing more than ferry the marines and their equipment to their desitnation. Did not take any fire nor fly over any anti-aircraft sites in any countries that hate us or anything.

When flying in Iraq you can expect to take shot from AK-47s, SA-7s, RPGs, mortars, or a combination. Same for Afganistan though it's not nearly as bad. The heavies are the ones flying into combat while the fighter types fly circles in the skies and play with themselves.


And I know a female pilot from that squadron. Being currently at Pope I looked for her yesterday but couldn't find her, so I assume she's currently deployed.

[Stuart Mackey]

Hmmmm, I do so like a woman in uniform.
I trust that its die hard politics that kept US woman out of combat missions for the last ten or so years?.

[Adrian Laguna]

Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo looks like she could rip my arms out of their sockets and beat me over the head with them.

I think you mean Staff Sgt. Josie E. Harshe, the woman on the far left. Alonso is on the far right. See the difference? German* Misterss chisled out of marble vs. Ms. Average.

*I can't know whether she is really German or not. I'm hoping she is, either that or Russian, seeing as those are the two nationalities that are inherently cool. Unless the national in question does something to make them uncool (like kill children).
So, already hot looking + German/Russian nationality = total awsomeness.

I'm quite surprised it didn't happen earlier. On the other hand, it probably wasn't a priority, so this might have been the first time simply because suddenly an aircrew was picked an coincidentially they were all female. It didn't happen before because the shortage of girls in the airforce made it statstically a bit unlikely. Unless it is a publicity stunt, in which case I give my standard response to all publicity stunts (unless they are very entertaining)

At the risk of (or perhaps for the purpose of) pissing some people off:
From left to right, would I fuck her?
Yes, maybe, maybe, yes, no, no.

Capt. Carol J. Mitchell looks exactly like a slightly older version of one of my classmates.

[Golan III]

I'm quite surprised it didn't happen earlier. On the other hand, it probably wasn't a priority, so this might have been the first time simply because suddenly an aircrew was picked an coincidentially they were all female. It didn't happen before because the shortage of girls in the airforce made it statstically a bit unlikely. Unless it is a publicity stunt, in which case I give my standard response to all publicity stunts (unless they are very entertaining)

it has happened before, on numerous other airframes. This is supposedly the first C-130 female crew to fly into combat...I'd bet it's happened before, just that there were no cameras there. Even as it was, it was likely (as you said) a coincidence of scheduling, and lucky for them the public affairs office was there with a camera this time!!!

surprised nobody mentioned anything about the chicks very visibly packing heat...very grrr, baby!



well, here's an unrelated but better story, bet Wicked Pilot knows some details on this...

"This is a no kidding story from our base. All of the following events did happen. The names have been omitted to protect the stupid. Some detailed information was added because it makes the story more real. The story was told second hand from a C-130 reservist working at our operations headquarters listening in on all the radios and speaking with most of the parties involved. This version is not very far from the truth. In fact, the naked truth is probably even funnier.

An active duty crew from Texas is taxiing off the ramp with 50+ Army guys in the back. It's two in the morning, but still kind of hot. The wind dies down at night, the humidity kicks on and it can stay well over 90 degrees. You add the heat of the flight line, engines running and aviation gas fumes and it can still be really hot. The active duty has older C-130E and C-130H1 models, so their air conditioning does not work so well. This heat and those fumes can make people airsick. Well as they taxi an Army guy pukes all over himself and a neighbor in the back of the airplane. Then a sympathetic puker takes out himself and the guy across from him. Then another. Then another until there are ten guys whistling beef in the back of the airplane. All this mind you and they haven't even taken off.

Rumor is there is a USAF regulation that states that after 20 pukers, it's a medical emergency. For 10 pukers it's only a mess.

The loadmaster relays his disgust to the pilot. The pilot, a Captain with not too many hours of pilot in command time, has two lieutenants for his copilot and navigator and he's frantic. As a crew they can't figure out the best course of action. It'll be a miserable three hours to wherever they are going and it could get worse. 'Another puker,' says the loadmaster. The pilot--who can now start to smell the vomit in the very front of the airplane as it wafts up in the heat--calls the command post to find out what he should do because he hasn't taken off yet and the floor in the back of his plane is getting repainted with these dudes' dinner. 'Another puker,' is the call from the back of the plane. The command post (probably a single or double striped airman that has never flown in a C-130 in his life and doesn't care to either) tells them to park the airplane where it is, shut down the engines and perform an emergency ground egress. Back to Play Station for the young airman, damn it...and don't call me again.

An emergency ground egress is what you would do if the plane caught on fire. It's what you'd do if you saw fuel pouring out of the wings. It is for really bad things. A ground egress is a tricky thing. You can't just shut down your engines and walk away. You have to declare an emergency with the tower (who hasn't heard any of the conversation with the command post because they are on different radio frequencies) who then calls the fire trucks and paramedics. All the passengers have to get far away from the plane because it is loaded with 44 thousand pounds of fuel and has a whole bunch of incendiary, pyrotechnic flares on board. Thus, an emergency ground egress is not something to be taken lightly.

These six aircrew members are all on headset when the command post tells them to do this. They know the facts: they are on a taxiway parallel to a two mile long runway active with fighters, bombers, tankers, JSTARS, C-17s, C-141s, C-5s, 747s, and other C-130s landing and taking off as they sit there. They have a full plane full of people, some of whom are puking. The smell is bad and getting worse. What do they do? What do these people who Donald Rumsfeld calls 'the best and brightest that our nation has to offer' choose to do? 'Captain, another puker, sir. What are we going to do?'

Those f****g dumba$$es shut down their engines blocking the only taxiway that runs alongside the runway and have everyone exit the airplane running like a herd of cats to get away from the explosive vomit. Un-f****g-believable. They have done al Quaida's work for them. They have almost completely shut down air operations. Any departing aircraft will have to back taxi on the runway to leave which means that no one can take off or land while someone is taxiing and vice versa.

It gets better.

Who is first on the scene? Paramedics? Fire department? Rescue? Security Forces? No my friends, ATOC. (ATOC gives and receives our cargo and passengers. It stands for 'A$$h***s Taking Our Crap.')

Ready to lend a hand, or so it seems, the ATOC representative wants to find the aircraft commander. Remember, it's 2 am. They're not on the ramp anymore, so it's not well lit. It's a total cluster because these folks have run away from the airplane until they felt silly and then they ran some more. This ATOC guy is more than a little anxious in his voice as he sorts through the crowd so he finally starts shouting. The A/C works his way through the crowd to the vehicle, relieved that there is someone there with a radio. Someone with experience. Someone who can help. Salvation, no?

But what are the first words out of the ATOC rep's mouth? "Sir, I am writing you up for a safety violation. These passengers are on the airfield unescorted and none of them have on reflective belts. What is your squadron, name and rank?"

Not 'What's your emergency?' Not 'How can I help?' Not 'Let me help you.' I am writing you up for a safety violation. There is great irony in this. The army guys are sporting the brand new electronic pattern camouflaged fatigues. It's night out and no one can see them because they are wearing camo--kind of the whole point, right? So the USAF in all it's wisdom hands everyone who transits the Al Udeid Air Base a reflective belt (along with a man purse, but that's not germane to this conversation) that the user MUST wear under penalty of death from sundown to sunup. Even if you are just walking that meager 300 feet to the toilet in the middle of night, you must wear this belt. God forbid you don't wear this belt when you go to take a squirt. We can't win the war without this belt! What in God's name are thinking trying to walk around in camo at night without a reflective belt?

These are Army guys. When they land in Iraq, the whole point is that you are not supposed to see them. That whole 'fighting the insurgents thing' or something. They kill people and blow stuff up. They get hostile fire pay and their taxes back as compensation for what they do. It is a very dangerous and difficult job. People are trying to kill them because of what they are trying to do. It is easier for them to do their job, from what I gather, when the insurgents can't see you. These are Army guys.

This is an ATOC guy. He is in Qatar. He is getting hostile fire pay and will get his federal and state taxes that he has paid while in Qatar refunded to him. He will never see Iraq. He will never see Afghanistan. The reality of this conflict is very far from his own personal understanding of what is truly important. While he is eating Dairy Queen *****ing that he has to walk that 300 feet to use the lavatory, there are people in Iraq *****ing that a mortar landed 300 feet from their tent. This is an Air Force guy.

It gets better.

They call off the emergency response vehicles, which never showed anyway, and the aircraft commander pockets his write-up for a safety violation.

Frustrated, the young captain asks his loadmaster to get the plane cleaned up as fast as possible so they can depart. The powers that be are really worried that the C-130s won't take off on time. God help you if you take off more than 14 minutes late. You boss will come to see you. Your boss's boss will come to see your boss. Hell, your boss's boss's boss might even come to see your boss's boss. This is stressed. And on the chance that you have a Distinguished Visitor (e.g. Admiral, General, Colonel, politician, or some other pain in the ***), getting that DV to their destination is your number one priority. You are ordered to bump passengers (war-fighters) and cargo (bullets and bombs) off of your airplane so some perfumed prince of the Pentagon or DC can spend ten minutes on the ground in Iraq and figure it all out. They even alert our crews almost four hours prior to takeoff so that we can take off on time!

The Captain has the weight of the world on his shoulders as he thinks about this. He needs the loadmaster to clean that Hercules as fast as possible to get the hell out of there. Now the loadmaster, in true loadmaster form, tells the a/c that he's not cleaning up ten vomit puddles because it's not his fault. He asked the Army guys when they got on the plane if they needed airsick bags and they all said no. It is clearly the army's fault and they should clean it up.

The a/c approaches the Army troop commander, who outranks him by the way, and asks him to get his people back on the plane to clean it. 'No can do, Captain...they don't want to do it. I can't make my people clean up another guy's vomit because it is a biohazard. Since I didn't see who puked, how can I punish the right soldiers? And even if I did know which guys puked, look how the puke is now all mashed together. It's all mixed up. I can't make a soldier clean up another's vomit without PPE. And who can remember where they were sitting anyway? No, I'm sorry young Captain, you'll have to clean it up yourself.'

I love it! I can't figure out why these inter-service operations never really work. Look at the love between the branches of the military! One team, one fight!

The young captain takes the ATOC radio and asks maintenance to clean the vomit because he's too scared to push the issue with this Army Major (Army guys must look scary to him) or with his loadmaster (maybe enlisted guys scare him, too.)

Maintenance says, 'Nuts. Maybe if you have brought it back to the ramp where we keep our equipment we could have helped you out. But since you parked it way out in the middle of nowhere right next to an active runway, we'll let you handle it. After all, it's your plane. You clean it.' The aircraft commander is really frustrated. He is now very late for his take off. No one is listening to his orders. He thinks that the puke smell is starting to permanently seep into his flight suit. Who can he turn to for guidance?

He calls the genius at the command post. 'Who can I make clean this plane?' he asks. The command post guy is pretty mad at this point. He was either playing 'Grand Theft Auto' on his PlayStation, reading a comic book or 'Stuff' magazine, or he was sleeping. This fool has bothered him again. What to do?

The command post calls and wakes (a little past three am now) the full bird colonel who heads the medical group. 'We have a C-130 shut down blocking the parallel taxiway because there a large human biohazard-type spill. Could you please send a team down to clean it up?' I'm sure the colonel is scratching his head at this point. He asks if it was an aeromedical evacuation mission and what type of biohazard it is. (Smart question, really. If it's air evac, let the aero-meds clean it and he goes back to bed.) The command post tells him that it was not an aero-med mission and that he doesn't know what type of biohazard it is but he does know that it is delaying the mission. Colonel wakes his team and sends them to the flight line on their fool's errand.

They show up and find out why they are there. They don't ask any questions. They clean the vomit. They leave. (The next day they report to the colonel what they were used for and he is livid. He will have someone's balls for this.)

The Army guys, each with their own personal airsick bag and some with two, board the plane. The young a/c takes off and returns well after sunset. His boss, his boss's boss and his boss's boss's boss are all waiting to chat with him when he lands.

That was some time ago. They chewed this kid out for quite some time. I love it. I almost peed my pants when I was told that story. We have met the enemy and we are him. I need to leave this place."

[Jason von Evil]

When flying in Iraq you can expect to take shot from AK-47s, SA-7s, RPGs, mortars, or a combination.

Mortars can go that high?

[Danny Bhoy]

mortars are high trajectory weapons. park 'em close to an airbase, i guess one could get lucky with a C-130 on final approach.

[Golan III]

Mortars can go that high?

airlifters actually have to land there...it's not all serene cruising up at 30,000 feet like it is for everybody else.

while still a hazard at lower levels, they are especially a concern while planes are on the ground being unloaded/refuelled, etc. Big C-5 or C-17 on the ground at Balad or Mosul = big juicy mortar magnet.

[Wicked Pilot]

Mortars can go that high?

Yes, yes they can. In fact, the insurgents are starting to mount SA-18 heads on top of the mortars so they can home in on your hot exhaust.

[Wicked Pilot]

And yeah I've seen the puke story over on baseops. I've also heard that the crew in question is from my sister squadron, but I can't, nor have tried, to confirm any of it.

[Gil Hamilton]

I assume all those times WASPs were in combat during WW2 don't count.

[CmdrWilkens]

Side note to all of this my understanding is that a mission is designated as a "combat" mission if it enters or flies over a combat zone. Therefore it doesn't have to be a strike mision or a patrol so long as it flies to or through a combat zone.

Second side note is that when I was stationed at LSA Anaconda the local yokels had the habit of setting up mortars (usually they weren't registered) and then popping off a few rounds each day trying to hit the C-5s which were flying in and out (or the F-16s awaiting their turn to go up for CAP). SO yeah sitting on the ground refueling and getting ready to head back home is a bit dangerous depending upon where you land.