Off Duty

Wings of Gold by Beverly Weintraub

Reviewed by LCDR Chip Lancaster, USN (Ret.)"

“When I hit the wall, I am going to get under it, over it or around it. Put a wall in front of me and my reaction is to knock it down.” Those were the words of CDR Rosemary Mariner, a pioneer female Naval Aviator. Beverly Weintraub has given us an accounting of the struggle undertaken by women to become and be accepted as Naval Aviators. Her compact book is an in-depth compendium taking the reader on a highly detailed trip through the Twentieth Century and into the Twenty-First about women in aviation in general and more specifically women in naval aviation. Beverly is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist and delivers the story in that manner. Her meticulous investigation pulls no punches, dividing the journey into five parts subdivided by decades and including a glossary of terms, source notes and an index. We start off with an early history of women in aviation from the Wright Brothers to the early 1970s. Her details include the Ninety-Nines, WASPs and WAVEs and the deep-seated male resistance that women had to deal with and overcome. As the story progresses into the 70s, the reader is introduced to the first women allowed into naval aviation training: Barbara Allen, Rosemary Conatser, Joellen Drag, Judy Neuffer, Ana Maria Scott and Jane Skiles. Into and through the decade, we are introduced to each woman individually learning their motivation to enter naval aviation. We learn the rigors, training differences from men and the opposition and hostility they encountered to earning their wings. We see that Beverly’s primary voice to what she is investigating is Rosemary who notes the parallel between Blacks in the military and women in naval aviation: separate is not equal, gender integration means gender neutral. To achieve, this women need to network, band together and marshal forces to bring the Navy in sync with the times.

The first major action in this regard occurs in 1976. LTJG Joellen Drag, an H-46 HAC in HC-3 at NAS North Island, rocks the boat, sending a letter up the chain of command challenging the Navy policy restricting women from going aboard ships. The letter disappears in the administrative bureaucracy, so Joellen challenges the relevant U.S. Code with a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit was ruled in favor of women, so the Navy allows women aboard ships but imposes severe restrictions. Despite continued Congressional and Navy roadblocks to female career success and advancement, the 1980s sees women Naval Aviators going to TPS, Top Gun and the VTs where they are instructing male pilots. The roadblocks take their toll on career opportunity with women resignations increasing. LCDR Jane Skiles O’Dea notes that it’s very discouraging to know that the best you can play is junior varsity. The Navy is literally throwing away assets in the form of highly qualified women to satisfy outdated rules and regulations.

In the 1980s, Rosemary becomes LT Rosemary Conatser Mariner. Her husband, LT Tommy Mariner, notes that “Rosemary grew me up" and made him an advocate for women in the Navy. Tommy joins the officers wives club changing it to the spouses club making him a trend setter. Although the times appear to be changing, by 1985 only 33 of 527 navy ships have female billets accounting for about one percent of the 48,000 women in the navy. In 1986, the Navy redesignates the Mobile Logistic Support Force Ships as Combat Logistic Force Ships. Joellen notes that with the stroke of a pen and changing a word, the Navy has made most of the supply ships off limits to women. Rosemary follows that with it’s a blatant attempt to keep women off ships by redefining combat. In 1987, Secretary of the Navy James Webb, a prior opponent of women in the armed forces, reopens the support force billets to women ordering that vigorous corrective and preventative actions need to be taken to end harassment of women. Along with those actions, CDR Rosemary Mariner is selected to be the next Commanding Officer of VAQ-34 at NAS Point Mugu. She has become the first woman to fly a tactical combat jet aircraft and now the first to take command of a tactical fleet aircraft squadron.

In Congress, women in the armed forces are finding support. Senators John McCain, John Warner and John Glenn go to bat, stating that women should be integrated into crews on Navy combat ships and fly combat planes and helicopters. Warner states more specifically, “The face of war has changed significantly while policies for women have been resistant to change due to antiquated legal restrictions.” Rosemary enlists the Women Military Aviators (WMA) to help focus change to repeal combat exclusions, becoming their vice president. WMA members walked the halls of Congress educating everyone they met that women had the necessary skills to fly combat aircraft. However, in Congress, Rosemary met significant opposition from Phyllis Schlafly and Elaine Donnelly, ultra conservative activists who had fought the Equal Rights Amendment and were now focused on excluding women from the military entirely. Rosemary’s position was that women aviators have flown in combat from WWII through Desert Storm. She emphasized that it wasn’t a matter of gender, the airplane doesn’t care, ability, not gender should decide who fights our next war from the skies.

The 90s roll in with a series of crucial sexual harassment and assault cases. A Navy Commander is harassed by her command mates before being assaulted by her commanding officer, a Naval Academy female midshipman is sexually harassed, the Top Gun assaults hit the news like a ton of bricks and to cap it all off the Tomcat Follies incident at Miramar throws sexual harassment at a U.S. Congresswomen. The events pummel the Navy with bad PR. A Presidential Commission is established which recommends allowing women to serve on combat ships to which the Navy reclassifies ships for more female billets and establishes mixed-gender bootcamps. Finally in 1993, the Secretary of Defense directs the services to open combat aviation to women, so the Navy, Air Force and Army begin training female combat airplane and helicopter pilots.

That’s the story to a point. What becomes of the first six as the Navy finishes the century and moves into the 2000s is for you to get the book and find out. My review only scratches the surface giving you the highlights as there is so much more to this in-depth accounting. I will say, however, that Wings of Gold begins and ends with the 4-plane F/A-18 missing aviator formation flown solely by 8 women combat veteran Naval Aviators over CAPT Rosemary Mariner’s memorial service. Afterwards, they comment that Rosemary made it possible for them to do the jobs that they were doing today. Said the flight leader, “We stand on the shoulders of giants and hers were the tallest.”

As I reflect on Wings of Gold, my thought is it’s too bad that these stories were not published a decade earlier as required reading for all commissioned, warrant, sergeant and petty officers. Is it still relative today when those in our chain feel compelled to brag about grabbing women and are accused of dozens of harassments and assaults with no accountability? My final thoughts are that I worked hard to get my wings and in my career afterwards, but as a contemporary with these women, what would I have done had I been confronted with opposition, harassment and hostility at every step of the way? I don’t know personally, but I commend the motivation, courage and perseverance of these women. I served with both Joellen and Rosemary but had no idea of what they had to deal with in their careers. This story puts new perspective on gender issues. It is a great read filled with a treasure trove of real people, historic issues and resultant actions. I give it five stars and two thumbs up. Get it, you won’t be disappointed.

The first three female student Naval Aviators, from left: Barbara Allen, Jane Skiles, and Judith Neuffer. U.S. Navy Photo Courtesy Judith Neuffer Bruner

ENS Ana Maria Scott flies the H-3 out of Helicopter Combat (HC) Support Squadron 6, Naval Air Station

Norfolk. Image courtesy TWU Libraries' Women’s Collection, Texas Women’s University, Denton, Texax.

ENS Joellen Drag, the lone woman in a sea of men, receives her Wings of Gold from her father, retired Navy Commander Theodore F. Drag. image courtesy TWU

ENS Joellen Drag, the lone woman in a sea of men, receives her Wings of Gold from her father, retired Navy Commander Theodore F. Drag. image courtesy TWU