We’ve done foreign women (with rifles). We’ve done (geek) women with blasters.
Ecce: Chicks with (side) sticks.
Talk about having to bring your “A” game. Because I could deal with a female Israeli paratroop wrestling me to the ground – ‘cos she’s infantry, see: And I’m only a pilot, amn’t I? (Nice boots by the way – could you maybe take them off my face? No? OK, that’ll be fine.)
Meanwhile, the imagination wanders in sometimes favorable directions on the topic of what might happen when a femtrooper turns her blaster on you at the ComicCon (this is not the Lex you’re looking for – say, that’s an awfully nice navel you have there. Did I tell you I’m a naval officer?), the idea of getting well and truly thrashed by a female-flown four-ship of fighters makes me feel sort of funny.
You know, funny. In a funny sort of way.
Still, that’s a part of what makes America grand.
They clean up nice, too.
How that ol’ worm do turn.
(Hat tip to John, who once again is ploughing my field better than I do.)
Haven’t the foggiest who Blaze is or what she does but would love to meet her in a bar.
Look at their faces – my god I wish on my best day I could look that comfortable with who I am, that confident that what I’m doing is RIGHT.
And I’d love to know the stories behind some of the names – Shock, Torch, Cheetah, Grinder, Hak, Blaze – just to name a few.
These women are beautiful and bitchin’!
OK, Lex. Every pilot has a story behind the handle. Anybody willing to go covert and find out theirs?
Just askin’.
Y’know, Skipper, YOU might be feeling a little funny with the whole “I can’t believe I got beat by a GURL!” thing…
But as Sierra Hotel as the CAS guys are, there’s something sort of comforting knowing that the strike package pulling THIS grunt’s chestnuts out of the fire are not only driven by professional skill, but maternal instinct…
…Kinda, well, sexy, too…
(Girls with guns get my attention… Girls with gunsights – WOW!)
Kris,
Some background on callsigns and how they are assigned:
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/approach/whatsyourcallsign/callsignhistory.htm
No info about the ladies callsigns but here is a list of some more interesting ones that have been around.
http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/approach/whatsyourcallsign/default.htm
Kris, once again you beat me to it. They exude confidence, their expressions shout “can do!”
Which, BTW, ain’t a bad thing. Some of us are secure enough not to be threatened by that
Shipmates,
Like da man said: “America! What a country!”
I like to think how absolutely maddening it must be for our erstwhile enemies, who demand their own women be covered up and hidden away, to consider that those coming to kill them are not only Americans, but women as well….. Karma is just soooo kewl…:)
Respects,
AW1 Tim
Sgt B and Tim, somebody needs to clone you guys.
Yowsa!
It makes ME feel absolutely fantastic. In a very very good kind of way.
Love those girls. You go, all of you, present and future fighter chicks.
I wonder what they do with the big watches…?
Ha! We’ve found your blog! And you thought you could go covert on US.
If you want to see some of the stories behind our callsigns, go to our FAQs page and click on the bottom of it. Or just use this link: http://www.fighterchicks.com/Callsigns.htm
Check 6!
Another USAF PR stunt?
4 preferred customers walking along the flight line.
That’s what I see when I see a picture like this……….Nothing exciting at all.
Feminism is not a reason for war……….
Okay, Capt. Lex, what’s with this.
http://www.fighterchicks.com/News.htm
About halfway down the page, “Congratulations Lex?” “Mom and Baby code 1?” Hope the Hobbit doesn’t find out.
Must be a case of mistaken Callsign.
It’s all a bit overwhelming. Except for Skippy-san of course. He’s thoroughly predictable.
We need a new word for “curmudgeon,” raised to the nth power.
And as for the fighter chicks themselves? God, I love this country.
Fighter Chick – thanx! Love em all, especially Shock and Mounds…fan-damn-tastic!
They already have a word: Fred Reed.
Thanks for all the great words! As for the watch, I am assuming you are talking about the G-shock watch they issue at pilot training (?)…I didn’t even take it because it was so oversized.
Go Hogs!
Man Skippy, whatever she did to you, it’s time to let it go.
Seriously, there are ~40,000 women in this country of military age and you think the only way to get a half-dozen of them into cockpits is preferential treatment? I think it’s pretty self-evident that, given a large enough population, there’s going to be somebody better than you in any possible measurement.
Are there women who receive preferential treatment? Yes. Is it wrong? Yes. Is it ever going to change? Not until they start chopping off wedding tackle upon enlistment.
So unless you’ve got evidence of such treatment keep your mouth shut. You’re just making it harder for the rest of us to get rid of the dead weight.
MMD, you guys are way too serious! I simply pointed out that I just don’t get excited about all this. To each his own, or have the gender police decided to outlaw having thoughts that are contrary to the rest of the herd’s?
My opinions were set a long time ago and I am way passed the point where I can change them. Nor do I really want to.
The Thunderbirds had their first female pilot this year. If women with guns are hot, women with missiles are even hotter…
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123010792
I’d be curious to know how many of the fighter chick sisterhood are former Civil Air Patrol cadets. CAP’s cadet program offers 12-21 year olds the opportunity to learn leadership skills in an aviation environment to become the responsible citizens of today and the aerospace leaders of tomorrow.
The young women who complete the cadet program are confident, determined, goal-oriented leaders who eagerly seek out challenges. Because its fun, because they can, because they are fully supported to make personal achievement the norm, not the exception. A 12 year old girl joins CAP wondering if there’s anything she Can do. After six years with us, she wonders if there’s anything she Can’t Do.
Write your names across the sky Fighter Chicks. Your CAVU future is in your hands.
Capt. J,
Well, I’m a guy, but I got my start in the CAP. I was disillusioned with the Boy Scouts, and the Civil Air Patrol offered me not only a great environment, but FLYING!!!!! Yeah, I didn’t much before I became a senior member, but I learned how to operate a radio net, service airplanes, direct them on the ramp, pull plugs and covers and chocks, wear a uniform and start being responsible for my actions.
One of the senior members was a retired Navy Lcdr who owned a Navion, the poor-man’s Mustang. He used to take me up with him every so often, and I was hooked. When I became a senior member, I got to be his observer more often than not, and learned much from him about aircraft handling and safety and observer skills, etc. We bored many a mile through the airspace over Utah, Idaha, Wyoming and Colorado. If you can learn to keep it together in those mountanous environs, your stomach will be fairly safe in other areas:)
Aside from JROTC, I can’t think of another organisation that provides as much good for a teenager, and a young adult, as the CAP. Not only that, it provides an invaluable service to the nation, one that’s not often appreciated, let alone recognised as it should be.
Thanks for reminding me of many great times.
Respects,
AW1 Tim
AW1 Tim,
Always knew you were a kindred spirit.
Aviation really IS a guild, where the lore is passed on from one individual to another. As Lex so generously does here.
There’s no better feeling in the world than waiting on the ramp when one of your cadets taxis back from his or her first solo hop.
Because you remember their first orientation flight, when they could barely see over the top of the instrument panel. When they took the controls at the pilot’s nod, and said over the intercom in a young but determined voice:
“My airplane”
Lex,
Found these young lovelies yesterday through John as well.
I love the story about the WWII ace asking what SHOCK’s call sign stood for and then asking to see her ovulate. Sometimes, no matter how old you get, your fighter training takes over, and the understatement of the year slips out.
I just laughed my big fat ass off at her response to his initial question and his comeback. And then they took their picture with him.
Sons and Daughters to make us all proud.
Press on jet jocks.
Subsunk
I can tell you both females on the Thunderbirds got their startin CAP; as well as an A-10 pilot who took battle damage in Iraq.
I tell all my CAP senior member ground team leaders the same thing:
“You have no idea what future impact you will have on the teens in your charge, except that you will–one way or the other. Will YOU be the reason one of your cadets goes to Mars, cures a disease, wins a war? In education, they say that ‘100 years from now, the world may be different because you were important in the life of a child.’ “May’ leaves too much to chance. Replace ‘may’ in that sentence with ‘WILL’ and you’ll understand why we are here.”
Determination is the engine of Victory
A female pilot callsign “MOUNDS”?
I wonder how they came up with that?
Look at our website link to favorite callsigns:
http://www.fighterchicks.com/Callsigns.htm