THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502150495
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
A Portsmouth native is helping other women adjust to the exclusive world of special operations, settling into her role as a pioneer in the shadowy group that includes the Navy's SEALs and Army's Green Berets.
Military officials say that until the arrival of Sgt. Lisa M. Wilson, a member of an Air Force flight crew, no woman had been a member of the Special Operations Command, the Tampa-based group overseeing operations of all the services' commando teams.
Now, Wilson is welcoming aboard other women in her role as loadmaster with Air Force Special Operations.
Her job is helping refuel choppers carrying special operations troops. What makes it a ``special'' challenge are the working conditions - in flight, in the dark, without radio and behind enemy lines.
Night goggles are a requirement. And it helps to be sure-footed.
``We're on harnesses and working around open doors. We're pretty much standing there, throwing things off the ramp,'' Wilson said, chuckling. ``It used to make me sick but it doesn't anymore.''
Her unit can also double as a delivery chopper for special forces troops, if needed.
Working out of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, Wilson is a member of the 9th Special Operations Squadron, the Night Wings. The unit is a part of the 16th Special Operations Wing, headquartered at Hurlburt Field in Florida.
``It wasn't until two weeks after I got the job that reporters started calling and I figured out it was unusual for women to be in this career field,'' Wilson said.
She has worked at more conventional jobs. Before she joined the Air Force, she graduated from Craddock High School, attended Tidewater Community College and worked as a secretary in Portsmouth's parks and recreation department.
Wilson's mother jokes that she still pines for the pre-special forces days, when her daughter's office was a more stable place than the cabin of an HC-130 Combat Shadow airplane.
``You try not to worry about these things being dangerous,'' said Charlotte Wilson, an office worker. She and her husband, Shelton, a longshoreman, live in Portsmouth's Bide-a-wee Manor.
Charlotte Wilson never expected her daughter to take a military career path.
``She never told us she had joined the Air Force until after she was sworn in. She knew what I'd say. Doesn't every mother want her daughter to settle down and be a secretary, get married and have children?''
Her daughter's office days seem gone for good. Seven years ago, Wilson's first job in the military was as a weapons loader - placing munitions on aircraft. Then she applied to be a helicopter gunner, a field not open to women.
So she submitted paperwork to be a loadmaster. When she was assigned to special operations, she didn't realize she was breaking new ground.
Wilson, at 5 foot 6 and 125 pounds, had trouble at first with the heavy cargo compartment doors on her aircraft.
She has developed her own technique for heaving them open and closed during flight.
Frequent travel is one big plus in this assignment, she says. Her squadron took part in the operation to capture Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and flew missions during Desert Storm in 1991.
Since she joined the squadron seven months ago, Wilson has been to Bermuda, Germany and Turkey.
The Night Wings have a female co-pilot and recently welcomed a new female loadmaster.
``Since the day she got here, we've been really tight friends,'' said Wilson, who is soon to be promoted to staff sergeant. ``It's hard to be in a squadron full of men.''
She has passed on several pieces of advice to the newcomers - ``Don't get discouraged, don't worry about what anybody else thinks, and have confidence.''
The squadron's head loadmaster, Master Sgt. William L. Thompson, says having a woman aboard eased the transition for the next ones.
``Lisa probably had the hardest time because guys were not used to it. But she's really adapted well and became a really good key player. I feel if she keeps going as well as she is, she'll be one of our first instructors on the female side in special ops.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
AIR FORCE
Sgt. Lisa M. Wilson is a member of the Air Force's 9th Special
Operations Squadron, the Night Wings, at Florida's Eglin Air Force
Base. She helps refuel choppers carrying special operations troops -
in flight, in the dark, without radio and behind enemy lines.
KEYWORDS: WOMEN IN THE MILITARY U.S. AIR FORCE by CNB