 The culture for women in the Air Force and aviation as a whole I think is something that's evolving. So what I mean by that is in a traditionally male dominated career field like being a fighter pilot. We have all these traditions which are great. However a lot of them are not very inclusive. So as we go forward in really getting more and more women into the career fields that revolve around aviation I think some of those traditions are changing to match the people that we now have there. I think there are some barriers for women becoming aviators. I think the most important one is representation. So you know we've got the movies, we got the fighter pilots and kind of the heroes that you can paint the picture of what it looks like to be a pilot in the Air Force or be an aviator in the civilian world too. It's predominantly male so like I know for myself specifically when I was a kid I saw the Blue Angels and I thought it was the coolest thing and I got their autograph and they felt like celebrities to me but there wasn't a female on the team and I never saw myself doing that. So I would lean towards you know what I want to do when I grow up it was things that I'd seen women doing. That was an awesome job in my opinion I just never pictured myself doing it and I think it's because I didn't have that representation as a kid. If you're growing up in a certain part of the country or in a household or a school where all you see or just males that are aviators or women doing certain things and males doing other things so you can get that impression as a young child that oh this may not be for you. So for me I didn't realize aviation was even a possibility until how I was much older. I didn't cross my mind as a kid. I think that there are definitely are some barriers to women becoming aviators. I think part of it is just a perception thing. I think that there are not a lot of women, young women out there that know that they can become a female aviator. I think that the idea that we still live in a world where we do specify that that's a female pilot and nobody would say that that says oh that's a male pilot. Everybody will specifically put that emphasis on female. I think that's part of the perception. You know we're in a space where we had to fight to be in this space. Women couldn't be in US Air Force pilot training until 1977 and then they couldn't find combat until 1993 so that's pretty recent and I guarantee a lot of those women didn't want to raise their hand and say if they were uncomfortable or if the space around them was built for men and not built for them. And I know a lot of us kind of still feel that way at least I do. You know if I'm the only female in the room and the room is not made for a female to be in there I'm a little hesitant to speak up if I need you know female flight equipment that fits me or allows me to do my job properly. That's something I've learned in my short four years of being an aviator in the Air Force is it's okay to speak up it's okay to say I'm different you know I can do the job just as well if not better than the men next to me but I need the right equipment and I need I need the support. In terms of getting into aviation making good choices is going to be the way that you get there and by that I mean being very deliberate in each thing that you do along the way. My advice would be to go for it don't let anybody tell you that it's not for you there's so many jobs out there and just try and figure out who you can talk to and learn more about all the different opportunities. I would challenge anyone who has a dream to just picture themselves doing that thing you know if it's just picture themselves in the uniform or flying the plane or doing whatever role they want to do if you can picture yourself doing it I think it makes it easier to go past those barriers especially in jobs like aviation where there are a lot of barriers it takes usually a lot of money or you know certain demographic or having some sort of privilege so we understand that those barriers exist and there are people who dedicate a lot of time and effort in most of their lives to kind of breaking down those barriers and creating that bridge to kind of close the gap so if anyone thinks there's a barrier that's too hard to get past I guarantee there are people out there that are trying to make that easier for them so they can be a part of the team as well. I'm hoping that one day we get to a point where we don't need a women in aviation week we just have aviation. I don't think that will happen in the near future or while I'm in the Air Force but maybe one day we'll just get to the point where you don't have to ask oh are you a female pilot or it's just oh I'm a pilot so I think it's great I think it's great that we're focusing on it I really enjoy I enjoy being able to speak to people about being a female pilot and I'm grateful to all of the women who came before me I'm grateful to the women who flew in World War II and weren't acknowledged at the time but have set that path forward I'm grateful to people like General Levitt who has really changed the way that women have been able to operate in combat she's the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat and without her who knows if I'd be sitting here I'm extremely grateful to the two other women that are in the fighter group with me here and I'm just happy to be a woman in aviation.