Army Chief Warrant Officer Monica Narhi, a medevac pilot, inspects the engine components of a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during preflight inspections at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, July 20.

Women have actively supported the U.S. military since the Revolutionary War. By providing medical care to wounded soldiers and support to their militia men, women introduced themselves as an asset to protecting the nation.

Today, female soldiers are offered the same jobs as male soldiers, with the exception of combat-arms careers such as infantry, armory and artillery.

Women, however, continue to deploy in support of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom on the ground and in the air as truck drivers, military police, field medics and Army aviation aircrew members.

Amelia Earhart and other female aviators paved the way for women in the sky in the 1920s, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that female pilots were considered for U.S. military aviation programs. But serving their country from the cockpit of fixed-wing or rotary-wing combat aircraft still was not an option for women.

In 1993, then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin opened combat presence from the aircraft cockpit to women, including female enlisted aircrew members.

In southern Afghanistan, women serve on aircrews that provide medical evacuation throughout the combat zone. Company C, 3rd Battalion, 82nd Aviation Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, includes men and women among its aviators and medical specialists.

“I can’t think of a better job I’d rather be doing,” said Army Chief Warrant Officer Monica Narhi, a medevac pilot. “What motivates me is the significance and direct purpose in my job every day; this is a great mission.”

Narhi, a 10-year Army pilot, said she has wanted to be a medevac pilot since she was a girl. A former Army aviation officer and a veteran of operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, Narhi retired her commission as a captain, but continued her military career. She returned to Army aviation as a warrant officer to continue pursuing her dream to be a pilot.

In the late 1980s, the Army responded to the prohibition of women being involved in combat roles — such as directly engaging the enemy with crew-served weapons, which excluded female helicopter pilots from the combat zone — by using helicopters for transportation and medical evacuation.

Army Capt. Jennie Richey, a medevac pilot, commands of the battalion’s Company D. Her mission is to ensure the maintenance and operability of CH-47F Chinook helicopters. “I don’t change the standards set for my soldiers or see them different from each other,” Richey said. “It doesn’t matter if they are male or female; they all work hard to accomplish their missions.

“I am who I am, and I won’t change how I command because I’m a female,” Richey continued. “And as a pilot and member of an aircrew, we see each other as just that — a crew; there is no difference.”

Army Sgt. Christine Chaney, a flight medic with Company C, served in the Army for more than five years. Before joining the company, she was an emergency room nurse in Germany.

“The team provides group support to each other while on missions,” Chaney said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a female medic or a male medic; what matters are patients receiving immediate care.”

In the combat zone, medevac crews treat not only casualties of homemade bombs and gunshot wounds, but also servicemembers suffering from heat stroke or injured in accidents.

“The hardest part about being a flight medic is treating injured children,” Chaney said. “My priority is treating the patient; their life is in our hands.”

Chaney said she hopes to pursue her medical degree and serve in the Army as a physician’s assistant or doctor.

Many women like Chaney have served in the military as medical specialists. Evacuation nurses have aided in the rescue of casualties for more than 60 years.

Army Lt. Elsie S. Ott, an air evacuation nurse in the 1940s, was the first woman to receive the Air Medal for her performance in support of the air evacuation mission. The Air Medal is awarded to crew members for their performance during an aviation mission in a hostile environment.

Along with flight medics and pilots, Army aviation also employs crew chiefs to assist in the maintenance and security of the aircraft. Army Spc. Nicole Hyde, a crew chief assigned to Company C, is responsible for helicopters’ serviceability, making sure the aircraft is ready for launch when a medevac mission is called in.

“After I’ve made sure the aircraft is ready, … communication calls, engines are operational and equipment is secure, my focus is to assist the pilots and flight medic on board,” she said.

Women now make up 15 percent of the Army, and working side by side with their male counterparts, have expanded their footprint in the U.S. military.

DVIDS

Army Chief Warrant Officer Amber Smith (left) and Air Force Capt. Kelly Smith (right) celebrate at a graduation for their younger sister, Army Chief Warrant Officer Lacey Smith (center). All three Smith sisters are pilots in the armed forces. (Courtesy photo)

Air Force Capt. Kelly Smith and Army Chief Warrant Officer Amber Smith, sisters from White Salmon, Wash., pose for a picture together on Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, July 15. Captain Smith, a C-130 pilot, and Chief Smith, an OH-58 Kiowa pilot, both deployed to Afghanistan and spent a few weeks together at Bagram. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse)

They never planned on being pilots and Afghanistan was the last place they expected to see each other, but that’s just what happened for two sisters from White Salmon, Wash.

Air Force Capt. Kelly Smith and Army Chief Warrant Officer Amber Smith grew up in a family rich with aviation ties. Their grandfather flew in the Army Air Corps as a lieutenant colonel during World War II and a commercial pilot after that. Their grandmother and mother were flight attendants. Multiple others in the family became commercial pilots, including their father, uncle and a few cousins.

“Just growing up around it so much, I think we all loved airplanes,” Captain Smith said. “We loved being around airplanes, going up in airplanes, hearing about them.”

However, both went off to college with no intention of going into aviation. Captain Smith studied English and journalism at the University of Arizona and Chief Smith became a cheerleader at the University of Washington.

“I think each of us, at one point, started to rebel,” said Captain Smith. “I know I did. I said I wasn’t going to be a pilot.”

Air Force Capt. Kelly Smith, a pilot with the 146th Airlift Wing in Channel Islands, Calif., stands in front of a C-130 on Bagram Air Field’s flightline, July 17. Captain Smith deployed to Afghanistan and served alongside her younger sister, Army Chief Warrant Officer Amber Smith, an OH-58 Kiowa pilot with Task Force Shadow, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse)

That quickly changed. During her freshman year, Captain Smith began to notice the A-10s and C-130s flying into Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz.

“It looked interesting and at that point I decided I didn’t want a desk job,” she said. “So, I started flying my dad’s little Cessna 150 when I was home the summer after my freshman year. After I soloed, I decided this is really fun.”

Captain Smith transferred to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and became a flight instructor after graduating.

Chief Smith turned to aviation after two years of college.

“It came to a point where I had to declare my major and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Chief Smith explained. “Flying had always interested me so I went and got my private pilot’s license in a fixed wing.”

Their father had encouraged them to look into the military for flying opportunities. Captain Smith jumped first, enlisting in the California Air National Guard shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

“[Sept. 11] hit me pretty hard because I had been planning on going to the airlines and interviewing that December,” she said. “I’ll never forget looking up with all my friends and seeing all our flights cancelled. It was almost like seeing my career go up in smoke.”

After graduating from basic military training at Lackland AFB, Texas, Captain Smith was selected for the pilot board, got her commission and became a C-130 pilot for the 146th Airlift Wing in Channel Islands, Calif.

“I always liked the C-130s,” she said. “I happened to meet this girl whose father is one of the colonels in our unit. He introduced me to everyone in the unit and I got to see all the planes. I thought it was really cool ““ I decided that was what I wanted to do. I had discovered something that I was really excited in.”

In 2003, knowing that she wanted to fly, Chief Smith enlisted in the Army. She chose her airframe, the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, almost by chance.

“I think you should pick an aircraft based on the mission, but I didn’t really know much about any of the missions,” she said. “I actually liked flying the TS-57 [in Army flight school] and thought helicopters would be similar ““ little did I know. I ended up getting Kiowa which was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I’m really glad I got it ““ it has an awesome mission.”

Army Chief Warrant Officer Amber Smith pauses for a picture in a OH-58 Kiowa during her deployment to Iraq in 2006. Chief Smith is now deployed to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, where her sister, Air Force Capt. Kelly Smith, a C-130 pilot, was deployed as well. The two sisters from White Salmon, Wash., spent a few weeks together at Bagram before Captain Smith redeployed back home. (Courtesy photo)

Fully qualified on the Kiowa, Chief Smith was stationed with the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky. In late 2007, her unit deployed to Forward Operating Base Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Not long after deploying, Chief Smith began to receive e-mails from her sister, Captain Smith ““ whose unit would be deploying to Bagram Air Field. They would be in different services, different locations, assigned to different units, but they found a commonality in their mission in Afghanistan ““ aiding troops on the ground.

“We have two completely different missions, but we both take care of the ground troops,” said Captain Smith. “The C-130s do a lot of airdrops and it’s fulfilling because you are getting the beans and bullets to the guys on the ground.”

Chief Smith agreed.

“I love [the Kiowa] mission because we work in direct support of the ground units,” Chief Smith explained. “It’s awesome to help them because they are the ones with boots on the ground.”

Although not at the same base, the two sisters got the opportunity to see each other in May when Chief Smith’s commander allowed her to fly to Bagram for a two-day visit.

“I loved the day that Amber came to visit,” Captain Smith said. “She came and got me up in the morning, we walked to the PX and got coffee, pizza, and massages. When you’re back home, you can have girls’ day ““ it was kind of like that, but Bagram style.”

Captain Smith also got the chance to see Chief Smith when she flew C-130s down to Jalalabad. Their favorite moment came out of one of these trips.

“We were taking off out of Jalalabad, Amber was on approach and we heard each other on the tower radio,” Captain Smith recalled with enthusiasm. “That was the coolest thing.”

“I thought, how often in our lives is that ever going to happen ““ in combat,” Chief Smith said.

Fellow pilots soon heard about the sisters.

“Everybody I work with knew my sister was here so whenever they would hear a female voice on the radio they would tell me that they heard my sister on the radio,” Chief Smith said.

“Me too,” added Captain Smith. “Whenever guys in our unit would fly down to Jalalabad and hear a women on the radio they would tell me they heard my sister. I have to tell them that there are other female pilots out there ““ we aren’t the only ones.”

Good news came for the two when Chief Smith’s unit relocated to Bagram. Although Captain Smith redeployed back to California in mid-July, the sisters spent a few weeks together.

“The past two weeks that I’ve been here we have probably seen each other more than we have in the past five years,” explained Chief Smith. “We are hardly ever together ““ it seems like somebody is always gone.”

Captain Smith and Chief Smith have each deployed twice and both agree it is easier being deployed together. Chief Smith went to Iraq in 2005 and Captain Smith to Southwest Asia shortly after.

“Here, we are both pilots and have the same type of intel,” explained Captain Smith. “It was harder for me being home when she was in Iraq because I didn’t know what was going on. I had never been deployed, and that’s scary. I can see why family and friends worry because they don’t hear about stuff.”

As the older sister, Captain Smith, 31, added that she doesn’t worry about her little sister, 26-year-old Chief Smith too much.

“Here, I get worried, but Chief Smith is a really, really good pilot ““ you can just tell she is,” said the proud older sister. “There is always that lingering fear ““ when things happen and I haven’t heard from her. But it’s not like I’m constantly worrying. I think I would be even more worried if I was stuck at home without a clue as to what was going on.”

Despite the fact there have been a few days the sisters have not been able to see each other or talk to each other because of work, they both agree having each other here makes it easier.

“Just knowing that you have that other person who is here for you ““ not just a friend, but family is really nice,” Captain Smith said.

It may be easier on them, but it’s not easier on their parents.

“I think they are handling this deployment better than the last one,” said Chief Smith. “Last time, none of us had deployed before, so it was like their first deployment too. They are doing better with it, but they’ll be excited when we are all home. They always say, “˜Be safe and we can’t wait to see you,’ but they are very supportive about it and very practical.”

Captain Smith agreed.

“We are very, very fortunate because our mom realized from the get-go that it would be harder on us to know that they are worrying about us all the time,” she said. “So she does a good job of reeling my dad in when he would start whining about how worried he was. That would make it harder on Amber, for example, when she’s not only worried about whatever her job is but she’s worried about making sure mom and dad are ok.”

Captain and Chief Smith aren’t the only ones their parents worry about. Younger sister Lacey, 25, is an Army Chief Warrant Officer and flies the UH-60 Black Hawk. Her unit, A Company, 101st Aviation, replaces Chief Amber Smith’s unit this winter.

Army Chief Warrant Officer Lacey Smith smiles in the cockpit of a UH-60 Blackhawk. Her sisters, Army Chief Warrant Officer Amber Smith, an OH-58 Kiowa pilot, and Air Force Capt. Kelly Smith, a C-130 pilot, had overlapping deployments to Afghanistan. Chief Lacey Smith will overlap with Chief Amber Smith when her unit replaces her sister’s in Afghanistan this fall. (Courtesy photo)

Chief Amber Smith expects a few weeks of overlap with Chief Lacey Smith, just as she has with Captain Smith. This will be Chief Lacey Smith’s first deployment.

“Amber and Kelly have given me great info about what all the different places are like,” Chief Lacey Smith said. “I am really looking forward to our upcoming deployment.”

Like her sisters, Chief Lacey Smith looks forward to supporting the troops on the ground ““ and the flying.

“I chose Black Hawks because of their mission diversity,” she said. “I’m not one for shooting things up, but love to have guys like Amber buzzing around us. Plus I love being able to meet and help soldiers.”

CJTF-101
Written by Air Force Staff Sgt. Rachel M. Martinez 455th AEW Public Affairs