Air Force Career #1

At the time I went into the Air Force, there were still many career fields not open to women.  I truly wanted to be a load master but was not allowed.  They didn't have any women flight crew at the time and those planes flew over hostile areas so that was out.  I was however allowed into my second choice which was jet engine mechanic.  I went in with a guaranteed job which was just beginning in 1976. 


Basic training was a hoot.  Just a mind game.  Again, at the time they were just beginning to integrate the men with the women.  Our "utility uniforms" were completely different from the men.  We were NOT allowed to shoot the M-16or have gas mask training and our obstacle course left out "the manly things". 


From there I went to Chanute AFB in Illinois for my engine training.  That's were things got a bit interesting.  We had about 400 airmen in various stages of training and there were only about 25 women.  It wasn't intensive training just really knowledge about general mechanics and tools.  At the time I did not realize it but I found out before I graduated that of the 25 women approximately 15 were gay.  This included my roommate.  She was extremely smart (an honor grad at both Basic Training and at Engine training.  She was one of my best friends as we went through basic together.)  Having never been around "gay" people, I had no idea what all the fuss was about.  The quickest way to get discharged if you didn't like what you were doing was to say you were gay.  lol
The women were treated differently in Engine Training.  We were the butt of many subtle jokes and the instructors were a bit condescending.  Of all the instructors, there was one female and she was a civilian.  She actually went in the other direction and favored the females in her classes.  One of the prerequisites on the career field was that females has to able to lift at least 50 pounds.  The first thing they did to us was test us on the weight limit.  The males didn't have to prove they could lift their weight limit.

I had no real problems at training except for the single instructors hitting on me.  I did date one on the sly.  We weren't supposed to but hey, whatever.  He could have lost his instructor status but nothing would have happened to me because I was the poor dumb female airman who didn't know any better.  He was never one of my instructors so that didn't play into anything.  I found out after I graduated that he kept a score card on how many trainees he could date and bed.  We lost several women from my class.  Not due to anything but they were found out.  We had 7 girls in my class and 4 admitted to being gay.  My roommate did not admit anything and as far as I know served her enlistment.