America's North Shore Journal

Clock­wise from top left, Capt. Trish Barker, Chief War­rant Offi­cer Andrea Gala­t­ian, Staff Sgt. Misty Seward and Sgt. Debra Lukan, of the Army’s 3-238^th Mede­vac, C Com­pany, became the company's first all-female crew just before Thanks­giv­ing. They are serv­ing in Iraq as part of Task Force Key­stone. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Neil Gussman

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq, Dec. 1, 2009 – Four sol­diers serv­ing here with the New Hamp­shire National Guard earned a spe­cial dis­tinc­tion last week when they became their company’s first all-female med­ical evac­u­a­tion crew.

Army Chief War­rant Offi­cer Andrea Gala­t­ian, a pilot in C Com­pany, 3-238^th Mede­vac, pre­pares a UH-60 Black Hawk heli­copter for flight at Con­tin­gency Oper­at­ing Base Adder, Iraq, Nov. 25, 2009. Gala­t­ian is part of the company's first all-female med­ical evac­u­a­tion crew. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Neil Gussman

In the three days before Thanks­giv­ing, Capt. Trish Barker, Chief War­rant Offi­cer Andrea Gala­t­ian, Staff Sgt. Misty Seward and Sgt. Debra Lukan, of the Army’s 3-238^th Mede­vac, C Com­pany, com­prised one of the on-alert crews for Task Force Key­stone. Offi­cials aren’t sure how rare the all-female mede­vac crew is, but it is a rar­ity the com­pany is proud of.

"There must have been another all-female mede­vac crew some­where, but I haven't seen one," said Gala­t­ian, the crew’s pilot.

The odds are slim for such a crew to come up on rota­tion, said Army Maj. David Mat­ti­more, com­man­der of C Com­pany, 3-238^th Mede­vac, from Hamp­ton, N.H.

"It would not have been pos­si­ble until one of our avion­ics sergeants became a crew chief," he said.

That crew chief also is the newest name on the flight ros­ter: Lukan, 43, of Keene, N.H., enlisted fol­low­ing 9/11. "I just barely made the age cut­off," she said of her age.

Lukan trained as an avion­ics mechanic and just recently switched from the shop to flight crew. She deployed to Camp Spe­icher and Tikrit from 2005 to 2006 and served in the avion­ics field. She’s happy to be on the flight rota­tion this time, she said.

"My fam­ily doesn't know I'm fly­ing," she said. "They worry a lot, but I sup­pose I'll have to tell them eventually."

In the civil­ian world, Lukan is a fed­eral tech­ni­cian in avion­ics for the New Hamp­shire National Guard.

Seward, 30, of Owosso, Mich., agreed with Gala­tion on the unique­ness of the crew. "Same for me," she said. "Never flew with an all-girl crew."

In fact, with a total of nine deploy­ments among them and between eight and 12 years of ser­vice apiece, this still is a first-time expe­ri­ence for the entire crew, Barker, the oper­a­tions offi­cer, said.

Seward enlisted in 1998 and has served as a medic for 11 years. She has four years as a flight medic and seven on the ground. She deployed to Kuwait from 2001 to 2002 and to Bagh­dad from 2006 to 2007, both tours as a ground medic.

When she returns from her cur­rent tour, Seward will resume her job as a secu­rity offi­cer at a level-one trauma clinic in Lans­ing, Mich., part of Spar­row Health Systems.

Gala­t­ian enlisted in 1997 and served five years as an admin­is­tra­tive clerk before going to flight school in 2002. She has served seven years as a pilot, includ­ing a deploy­ment to Bosnia in 2005.

As a civil­ian, Gala­t­ian is the busi­ness ana­lyst for the real estate divi­sion of the Michi­gan Depart­ment of Transportation.

Barker, 30, enlisted in 1999 as an air­craft fueler. She went to Offi­cer Can­di­date School in 2003 and Flight School in 2004. A native of Menom­i­nee, Mich., she was deployed to Bosnia in 2005 as a mede­vac sec­tion leader.

When she returns from this deploy­ment, she will resume her job as the state occu­pa­tional health spe­cial­ist for the Michi­gan Army National Guard.

From left, Sgt. Debra Lukan, Capt. Trish Barker, Staff Sgt. Misty Seward and Chief War­rant Offi­cer Andrea Gala­t­ian, of the Army’s 3-238^th Mede­vac, C com­pany, became the company's first all-female crew just before Thanks­giv­ing. They are serv­ing in Iraq as part of Task Force Key­stone. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Neil Gussman

"It may be months before this crew comes up in the rota­tion again," Mat­ti­more said. "We only have nine female flight crew mem­bers and every­one rotates to our remote bases, so the odds of them being back together again are low."

Still, the crew is happy to have had the expe­ri­ence. "I'm glad we got a chance to be first," Barker said, "even if it is just first for us."

DoD
By Army Sgt. Neil Guss­man
Spe­cial to Amer­i­can Forces Press Service