Lt. Col. Jacqui Marty

By Gina Doughty

Jacqui Marty looks like an ordinary woman.

At least, she looks as ordinary as anyone can, wearing a well-worn flight suit with a Lieutenant Colonel's insignia, sitting on a panel with four other women telling "Stories from the War Front." A combat-experienced Air Force pilot who can claim to have traveled to every State and a dozen foreign countries, she's got a few stories to share.

"We were scared and excited," she says bluntly, describing the sleepless night her crew spent before a sortie over Kosovo. She describes her emotions with the same factual simplicity that she describes her aircraft.

But even on the front lines she found moments of levity. In the air her copilot--another female Air Force pilot on her first combat mission--exclaimed excitedly that there must be a celebration going on below. "She said, 'Look, they're shooting off fireworks!'" Marty says with a small laugh. "I told her, 'Uh, that's not fireworks. They are actually shooting at us." She is quick to reassure, "We were high enough it wasn't a factor."

She adds thoughtfully, "But is sure was something to see."

Marty recounts another story of being stranded in Thailand after a hydraulic failure on her KC-10. After several days and many phone calls to coordinate the arrival of parts and personnel to effect repairs, she caught the attention of the staff at the hotel. When asked, the Thai member of Marty's crew attempted explain that she was the commanding officer, in charge of a nine-person crew--which happened to be all male. Marty said "She understood the words, but couldn't grasp the concept of a woman in charge." After an extensive explanation, Marty's crew member eventually got the message across.

"Suddenly it was like the Red Sea parting when I walked into a room. They bowed and smiled [when they greeted me]. I went to my room and there was a huge fruit basket. It was very nice, but I thought it was a little late for a welcome basket," she recalls. "When I found out what had happened, you can bet I took advantage of that as often as I could!" She says with a laugh.

For U.S. military personnel stationed in the UAE, movement is extremely limited. Marty recalls being limited to only certain areas on base, and required to go nearly everywhere in pairs. "But after spending that much time together, you needed some alone time," she admits. To get a moment of solitude, she went for a jog around the free-movement area of the base. On the way, she encountered a local woman supervising her children as they played in the yard. Stopping to pick up a ball that rolled away from the children, she chanced to make eye contact with the woman.

No words passed between them, as regulations prohibited interaction, and the language barrier stood impentrable, regardless. But as the women stood looking at each other--one wearing standard workout clothes for an American woman, the other in the traditional black Abaya, her face and body entirely concealed except for her eyes--Marty said she felt a deep connection between them.

"She looked at me with envy...and what I think was this powerful longing."

Able to pursue a career, given recognition and status equal to that of men, allowed the same opportunities, Marty expresses empathy for women denied such things. She struggles to find the words, and emotion fogs her voice as she continues, "It was then that I realized... how lucky I am to be an American woman, with the rights and freedoms we have... I'm very grateful."

FMI: www.march.afrc.af.mil/