A rare all-female crew from the 908th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron (EARS) recently completed an aerial refueling flight in a KC-10 Extender over southwest Asia. “It wasn’t about doing a ‘first,’ although this is rare,” said Lt. Jen Carter, KC-10 pilot in the 908th EARS. “We usually have no more than two females on any given day. It was a morale booster for us, and today it was a morale booster for the plane we refueled.”** **
And it is no wonder the flight made these women feel special. According to the U.S Air Force demographics data from June of this year, only 4.8 percent of the pilots in the Air Force are women. But the most difficult position to fill was the flight engineer since there is only one — Staff Sgt. Sarah Lockley.
Flying with special shoulder patches labeled “Gucci Girls Unmanned KC-10 Flight,” the four-member crew was completed by boom operator and flight air refueler Staff Sgt. Lindy Campbell, and KC-10 aircraft commander Capt. Lindsey Bauer. The crewmembers are based out of Travis Air Force Base in California and the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
“My young daughter unintentionally reminds me every day that she needs women to look up to; she needs women to prove that nothing is impossible; she needs female role models,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth Moss, the 908th EARS commander. “I think an all-female crew shows her that another potential obstacle to her dreams no longer exists.”
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