Replies

Where to begin...

First of all enduring pain has very little to do with physical endurance. I am a terrible patient and I hate pain. When I wake up from surgery I want the morphine NOW! My wife bore our kids and she will go to work with a cold when I will stay home in bed and sleep it off. But there is no way she is physically capable of humping a heavy pack for days in the mountains with the South Korean Marines as I did in my ground tour in the Marine Corps.

And speaking of flying. Good on you for pursuing your dream and suceeding, and for beating your boyfriend with your flying skills. Unfortunately If you were to go up against a real fighter pilot you wouldn’t fare so well, not that you don’t have the basic skills to learn to be good, it sounds like you may.

I was a jet flight instructor for three years and trained Navy/Marine pilots. At the time the Marine Corps did not have female pilots, but I trained several that were in the Navy and was the Asst OPSO/STANO so reviewed all of the records. And yes, they were treated with kid gloves because there was a big push by the Navy for them to succeed and every issue was closely scrutinized by the brass. In three years most were below or slightly below average and they ALL had some sort of personal problem/confidence/self esteem issue. Only one was average and she ended up resigning just before getting her wings because of boyfriend issues. Another made it through her carrier quals by dating one of the Navy LSO instructor pilots. I wasn’t there on qual day, but the word was that everyone on the deck was in fear for their lives. Maybe all of the good ones went through Beeville/Kingsville.

Many of the men struggled also and about 15% didn’t make it through despite extensive prescreening and testing. It WAS intense and very demanding, intentionally so. The point was that without special handling not many of the females would have made it through the program. Oh, and I was named “favorite instructor” by at least one of them.