McKinleyville Coast Guard Unit Launches First All-Female Helicopter Crew for Women’s History Month
This is a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard:
A McKinleyville Coast Guard unit is highlighting their first all-female helicopter crew in celebration of Women’s History Month, Saturday.
According to Women In Aviation International, “while the amount of women in the U.S. Aviation Field is still small with women only representing about seven percent of the total pilot population, the number of women involved is steadily increasing and women are represented in nearly every aviation occupation today.”
Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay was able to achieve an aircrew consisting solely of women due to an increase of female Coast Guardsmen at the unit.
“The Coast Guard is striving to increase the number of women in the organization overall, not only in aviation,” said Lt. Audra Forteza, a Sector Humboldt Bayaircraft commander. “It’s wonderful that our small unit has enough females that we can show young women in the community that they do have these kind of opportunities and hopefully we can inspire them to pursue their career dreams and grow up to be whatever they want to be.”
Sector Humboldt Bay’s area of responsibility consists of 250 miles of rugged coastline from the Mendocino-Sonoma County line north to the California-Oregon border.
Questions can be directed to the Coast Guard Public Affairs Officer at (707) 839-6559. Callers are asked to leave their name and number.
A McKinleyville Coast Guard unit is highlighting their first all-female helicopter crew in celebration of Women’s History Month, Saturday.
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gee what could go wrong
Well blows me over popeye! Time to throw my naked ass in the ocean!
PLEASE DO!!!!!
Although the idea that this is some mystical success for women is off base (shut up- it’s deliberate), the expected comments to belittle women are what can go wrong.
Lots of things “can go wrong”, but is it any more likely with an ALL Female crew, NO!!!! No more so tahn with an All Male crew!!!!
Are you always so negative or do you just have a problem with strong, capable females?
What could go wrong? Are you suggesting they cant do the job just because they are female? Or that they were hired based on their sex rather than merit?
I dont see any reason to make those assumptions. You realize you are just as wrongheaded (or worse) as any regressive non-bianary social justice warrior, right.
I’m all for equal rights for all kinds of careers, athletics and personal achievements. If an all female team is developed, however, what should be first and foremost is that they are the best at what they do, not that they are female. The whole gender thing is getting just as bad as the race thing.
I choose to celebrate humanity as a whole. I choose to celebrate US Citizens as all equal. Gender and race are used primarily to heat up arguments. Shouldn’t we be beyond this? Otherwise these arguments will never cease.
I am so happy these individuals are serving their country. I’m glad they are some of the best! Congratulations to them for their accomplishments as dedicated service members.
I agree. Everyone should absolutely have the opportunity to earn positions based on merit, as I’m sure these women have, but sex, race, age ect should not be a factor in hiring or praising people.
As we know from studies in other nations, those nations with a higher degree of openness and inclusion tend to see men and women making different carrier choices to a greater degree than in the US. There is not evidence to support that there are fewer female helicopter pilots due to discrimination, or a lack of same-sex role models for girls.
The fact that so many do not see how viewing others through a lens of intersectional identity, and assuming differences between groups are always appropriately attributed to discrimination, has fueled the popularity of tRump, and seriously damaged the cause of egalitarianism terrifies me.
I think the coast guard has a lot more insight into their employees competency than some lazy civilian dudes drooling on their keyboards.
Performance is the key. All female crew Kudos. An all Asian crew Kudos. An all Afro crew Kudos. Recently I had surgery from an female surgeon from Ethiopia and attending MDs from China and Israel. The team did a outstanding job under complicated duress. I agree with the other posters. It’s not about who you are and all about what you are. It’s all about the PERSON. One needs to look thru human eyes. No one is better than anyone else. Given opportunity and training we all succeed.
Oh, for heaven’s sake, the idea is that for a long time women were so rare at jobs like this because of sexism, that the idea of an all female team was unthinkable. BUT now we as a society should celebrate not only these wonderful individuals but that we ALL have made some giant leaps forward to enable this to happen. YAY all us.
In addition, it provides visible proof for those not yet socially evolved enough to think women are just as capable as men and overtime will wear at these ideas in them and at any of their contagion they might have spread to younger folks.
Maybe people are sick and tired of the pc bullshit. Maybe people recognize, despite the liberal propaganda, that yes, there is a difference between women and men. And maybe that difference makes women less inclined to wanna be pilots, soldiers and day traders. And men less inclined to be nurses and hair dressers etc. Maybe there’s not a racist, sexist, xenophobe behind every rock and under every bed.
And maybe many people are more willing to push down others for their own financial and social gain, than they think. Maybe they’d like to assume some basic difference in color, gender than make sure that there are equal opportunities for everyone because that fits their agenda.
Just sayin’, Rollin. Could be true…
Of course that’s true. There are selfish people in the world who are willing to oppress others for their own agenda. I get it; I agree. There are also people who want to pretend we are all the same and that every instance of “inequality” is due to racism, sexism, etc. Both instances are not helpful.
Well said Kym AND Rollin! ’m currently working with a number of young women rookies on a fire Dept. Just like men, they have pros n cons but all have the drive to get the job done, professionally. Alot is attitude, I’m not a great caregiver or homemaker or emotionally available for my kids, I don’t run around claiming that I’m an equal on it either. There are jobs and positions that fit male or female roles better. Let’s all stop saying we are equal, because in reality, we are not. Bravo ladies!
Yes, at one time women would have been prevented from a jobs like this due to sexism, we have all taken history classes. That time has long since passed.
I think the difference here is that you are assuming the first all female crew signifies progress on the issue of sexism. Many others do not agree. They think that these positions became open to women many decades ago, and that the first all female crew coming together today is more indicative of the rarity of females who desire these jobs.
At some point, in order to continue progress, we have to be able to stop judging (or congratulating) people based on things like sex, gender, or ethno-racial group.
A lot of people, including most conservatives, see a story like this and think to themselves “Hey, I dont care what sex a person is as long as they are the best choice for the job, and everyone I know feels the same. Why am I seeing this story?” They are ready to move on with progress. Again, stanch conservatives are accepting progress, and they see judging, hiring, or congratulating people based on identity metrics as a form of bigotry.
It’s a complex issue. We have to find a way to continue the progress towards egalitarianism without constantly taking steps backwards into categorizing people based on these things.
Eventually this shift needs to happen. Although we do still celebrate our liberation from the King of England I suppose (i think next to no one actually thinks that way about American Independence today, we have moved on and accepted that form of progress.)
Tell tax payer that.
yes cram your narrative down peoples throats until they tell you they are sick of hearing it.
Wait, you are entitled to speak without being told you are cramming a narrative down everyone’s throats, surely I am, too?
What I was pointing out to hmm, is that his contention that everyone already believes women are as good at these kind of jobs is wrong—just look at your comment.
Why is that insulting? If you don’t think women should be doing those jobs, then you should be ready to tell hmm that you don’t think women are appropriate for this kind of work—not attack me for pointing out that hmm is incorrect in stating that everyone is already beyond that.
I would congratulate men if they committed less suicide and murders.
The issue likely has a huge correlation to the fact that men seek less mental therapy and treatment, based on very old social conditioning – that emotions are a women’s issue.
* And I would love to be rescued by a helicopter full of strong, smart and pretty ladies! Help, I’ve fallen and can’t get up!
I think this is awesome. Women have been oppressed for thousands of years.
🙄…..so have Scottish, blacks, Asians, Mayans, jews, muslims, Christians and redheads. Your point?
Maybe WHY???? But like a previous poster wrote it is all about performance. Physical women are everywhere. In Kentucky there is a female former Marine fighter pilot who flew combat missions in Iraq. There are women in space and soon to be walking on the moon. There are women fighters in MMA. There are still women giving birth a place the first male cannot be found.
Per your name…do you really not know any men doing anything? I’ve got strong capable men in my family that I’m pretty grateful for. That’s not to mention a number of others that I know in my neighborhood.
In a small scale yes, but on a larger scale? Men in our society have been failing bad for quite sometime. There is a reason why this upcoming census will show more single mothers raising children for the first time in our society.
I find female homo sapiens tend to be more empathetic and patient when dealing with situations in a broad general. I’m all for woman to step up and start leading society. Hopefully they will care more for people, care more for the environment, and stop these endless fucking wars forever.
Course we need these male homo sapiens, to gtfo of the way with they way they’ve treated everything, woman the earth other countries, eachother.
I tell my wife all the time that society needs to be led by strong, compassionate, empathetic woman like the ones at the end of Mad Max.
It will happen we just need these dumbass non evolving males to finish killing themselves over power greed control drugs and suicide.
Bravo!
Your virtue signaling is solid. If you just add something about being ashamed of your race and nationality you’ll have it mastered.
I am most defiantly ashamed of my race. Homo sapiens need to get their shit together.
“ level headed “
Yeah I’m not sure about that .
Ditto gen Xer Human beings as an equal and whole are just fuking stooped hairless apez. Male or Female…all you have to do is look at our current situation!
Lumping people together by race or by gender or, even generally, by occupation…is pretty sketchy.
I was in charge of a rescue at sea one time. We pulled a man out of the water after he fell climbing a pilot ladder from a life-raft up to the deck of an oil tanker. He had been in the water, which was about 82 F, for about two hours. Wind was force 6/7, and the waves were substantial (South China Sea during the Northeast monsoon, for those in the know). He was so weak he couldn’t climb on to our gangway, so my second mate carried him up. He had swallowed so much water he had trouble breathing, so I gave him O2 from a Robert Shaw resuscitator, which revived him. He came back from the brink of death very quickly after that. Point is, he didn’t care who got him out of the water. Not nationality, not gender, not religion. Only that someone saved him.
If I were to be that person in the water I would feel the same. I think it’s great that our local Coast Guard has done this. It sets a good example for everyone, not just for women, but men as well.
I met the rescue crew of the local USCG many years ago. They were a bunch of dedicated, fearless, and highly skilled sailors, and it gave me some small satisfaction knowing they are nearby, and would risk their lives to save my ass, should I ever need it (I never have, but I’ve come close about two dozen times).
These women deserve the respect (from us) they’ve already earned.
Their difficult journey was learning their skills with a bunch of guys. Had to be intimidating. I was on an all female soccer team at UC San Diego. We scrimaged against the men’s team. They kicked our asses. They could kick the ball faster than we could. When they blocked out they hipped checked us and we ended up on our butts and shots on goal came at the goalie at 60 MPH. Scared the hell out of us. We learned that physically men were much stronger and if they decided to they could intimidate us. Beyond that we had all of the soccer skills just not the physical prowess. But based on size and skill I am sure if we took on a high school boys team we could most likely kick butt. Everything has physical limitations. I would put any San Diego men’s soccer player in the MMA ring against Amanda Nunes. Don’t believe me! Google her name.
We know we have arrived as a society when we measure people by their physical fighting ability.
It’s been that way for millennia stars. EVERY successful culture has measured there society on there physical fighting ability. Without, they would not be here. Do I smell sarcasm????
Indeed
The soccer story is exactly the point. Men, on the whole, are physically stronger. We currently live in a society where so called equality takes precedence over all else. So much so that we lower testing standards (to everyone’s detriment)in order to pass less capable people, just so we can bow at the alter of political correctness or diversity. It’s idiotic. I’m not saying that’s the case with the coast guard ladies but the practice is rampant in our PC society.
If you were stranded on a sinking ship or trapped in a burning building about to die and you had to pick who was going to swim with you or carry you down a ladder, most people would pick men, not because most people are sexist but because most people have some modicum of common sense.
You are right! I wouldn’t get in the ring with Nunes. She could probably kick the ass of most guy in Eureka. But is that the point here? The lady in Kentucky is running against Senator Mitch McConnell. And hopefully she wins that election. Men like McConnell need to be removed from office. Women like Col. Amy McGrath need to replace him. McConnell has done more damage to this country than Trump. We need to elect a younger breed of Senator and Congressmen to take this country in a new direction. Too many cronies who have padded their lives with wealth. The time has come to stop the lobbyists on the Federal level by Big War corporations that get us into wars that waste our tax dollars we should be spending inside the country. How many more 18 billion dollar aircraft carriers do we need?
Exactly! But here is the thing, this wont happen unless parents start taking the blue pill, and then pull our kids out of the matrix. I have a 1 year old son, my duty now, is to raise my son to see the way things have been being done because of money, will kill us all. I will teach him there is another life outside that.
We all need to educate ourselves, take the blue pill, and teach our children that power money and greed, serves only very few, ignorance destroys all, and compassion, education, empathy, and unity, will save us. If enough parents do this, hopefully society will evolve and progress past the current clusterfuck we have now.
It was the red pill in the Matrix that revealed the “truth”.
Yeah, the blue pill just gives you an erection.
oh ya….derp
wonderful ! if the occasion should arise I know I will be in good hands from this crew.
well, I’ve always liked the ladies, so if I get in trouble I’d be happy to have them come rescue me.
I have a female dentist, a couple of female specialists doctors, a female veterinarian, and even a female boss – err, I mean wife. Shoot, I even got a ticket last year from a female cop. So, best of luck to them.