A Force of Perseverance

Kelsey Eastham, ’14, is the Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) for the Strike Eagle, one of the world’s greatest fighter jets.

The Strike Eagle, or Boeing F-15E, is a twin-engine aircraft originally developed as an air supremacy jet. It’s a two-seat, all-weather, multi-role strike fighter used commonly in the US Air Force. It has the muscle to carry up to 23,000 pounds of payload including combat weapons, air-toground missiles, and a variety of bombs. It can fly more than twice the speed of sound.

And Eastham gets to fly it for a living. And coincidentally wins the award for "Coolest Job Ever."

In the air-to-ground realm, Eastham is responsible for using all the sensors on the jet to find, track, and target whatever they are looking for, whether it was given to them by a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller) or by other means. (The JTAC is the person who directs, from a forward position, the action of combat aircraft engages in close air support and other offensive air operations. They control the stack of aircraft in a certain piece of sky.)

In the air-to-air realm, WSOs put on a defensive cap and make sure the group defensively responds to the threat at the appropriate times. She backs up the pilot and vice versa. It’s a crew mindset, and everyone holds each other accountable.

Ever since Eastham’s grandpa finished his service in the Army during World War II, he always talked about flying. He never knew his granddaughter would join the Air Force. He pinned on her wings at her pinning ceremony.

Training consisted of attending Undergraduate Combat Systems Officer Training (UCT) in Pensacola, Florida, for a year and a half and getting selected for the F-15E. That was followed by Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals (IFF) at Randolph Air Force Base (AFB) in San Antonio, Texas, for two months. Eastham then went to the B Course at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina for a year, where she learned the basics of the Strike Eagle. Finally, she arrived at her first operational squadron, the 389th Thunderbolts, at Mountain Home AFB in Idaho, where she’s been stationed for the past year. This is the squadron with whom she went on she first deployment.

“Perseverance is key; if you really want something, you’re going to put your all into that goal and not stop for anything. It was a challenge to get selected for Officer Training School (OTS) and then be selected for my rated flying job. Then I had to beat out other classmates who wanted the same platform as I did, and then I had to keep fighting for my operational squadron location.”

She hopes that her story is teaching the younger generation of girls that they can do anything they set their minds to. No matter their goal, it can be accomplished if they work hard and never give up.

Photography by Mark Calendine