Today, women make up about 12% of all Navy pilots. ![]() That was in 1974.īut it wasn't until nearly two decades later, 1993, when the military finally allowed women to fly combat missions. The Navy was the first branch of the U.S. But it's cool to take a step back and be like, wow, like, this is pretty rare." "I think sometimes we get really wrapped up in the tactics and all that sort of stuff. "It's pretty epic, the job that we're doing," Sava says. Meet the women of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 213, The Fighting Blacklions: Lieutenants Espinal, Somma, Rebecca Ryan, Mikayla Sakach and Natalie Sava. "That sounded like the most exciting, best thing I could possibly do," adds Lieutenant Amber Soma. For these women, the cockpit of a fighter jet never seemed out of reach. Espinal is one of five female pilots in the same squadron. ![]() "It's just not how the world was when I was born."īut she doesn't walk alone. "Growing up, there's nothing I ever thought that I couldn't do, because I was a female," she recalls. With each step on the flight line at Naval Air Station Oceana, Lieutenant Michelle Espinal walks a path few like her have traveled.
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