Hundreds Attend Convention In Orlando, FL Last Month
Anyone who attended this year's 21st Annual Women in Aviation
International (WAI) Conference in Orlando, FL knows that Navy women
were out in force for the convention. With three Navy admirals in
attendance and two Navy officers inducted into this year's WAI
Pioneer Hall of Fame, the admirals in attendance sent a strong
message that diversity allows for a greater and more versatile
workforce.
Rear Adm. Wendi Carpenter, commander, Navy Warfare Development
Command, is one of those leaders who believes that Navy leadership
is on the right track with diversity. "Look across the spectrum of
opportunities that women have been offered in the Navy as well as
the diversity that has been embraced by our senior leaders at the
three and four star level," said Carpenter. "I think all of our
four star commanders are really trying to educate people on
diversity and make them understand that it's not just a strategic
imperative, it is something that is a wise business decision
because you just get better answers and better alternatives by
having more people in your workforce besides one size fits
all."
Rear Adm. Margaret DeLuca Klein, director of operations, Naval
Network Warfare Command, was one of the keynote speakers for the
conference and said she also agreed that diversity in the Navy has
come a long way and it is still getting better. "The Navy is really
pushing to open up submarines to females," said Klein. "The
opportunities really are limitless."
Navy women are involved in many areas of aviation including the
space program.
U.S. Naval Reserve Capt. Kathy Sullivan was inducted into the
WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame Sept. 27 for her accomplishments in
aviation. Sullivan was a member of the first space shuttle
astronaut class and the first American woman to walk in space. "Any
honor that is nominated, and voted on by peers, that's really
pretty special," said Sullivan. "These awards are not given away
lightly and they are not honors that can be politicked or bought.
If you look across the room at the aviation talent from the
business side to the flight side, and at the people who have gone
before us, it's really something to have their vote of confidence
and really quite something to join their company," said
Sullivan.
Retired Navy Cmdr. Trish Beckman was also inducted into the WAI
Pioneer Hall of Fame. Beckman is the first woman to qualify as a
crew member in the F-15E program and the first American woman to
qualify as a crewmember in the FA-18D. She also helped influence
the United States Senate to repeal combat exclusion laws and change
executive branch policy, allowing women to fly aircraft engaged in
combat missions.
Nearly 3,000 people attended this year's conference from all
aviation walks of life. All branches of military service were
represented as well as many corporate officials from various
airlines and other aviation organizations. International attendees
represented 20 different countries.
All of the Navy leadership attending the conference agreed that
across the board in our armed forces, diversity is on the right
path. They also agreed that the WAI conference is a great way to
network and problem solve issues within the aviation community in
addition to showing the world their progress in diversity.
WAI was able to award approximately $678,300 in scholarships to
WAI members of all ages to be used for everything from flight
training to mechanics.
As an aside, be sure to look for a feature on Aero-TV later this
month where we talked to many military women about their careers in
aviation and the service.
ANN Salutes Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Sunday
Williams, Navy Public Affairs Support Element Detachment
Southeast.