NORTH CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – Joint Base Charleston is celebrating Women’s History Month with two all-female flights taking off on Wednesday morning.
The crews took off at approximately 7:15 am on two C-17 Globemaster III planes with 11 crew members on board, five to six crew members on each plane, said JBC spokeswoman Diana Cossaboom.
The planes go to Pope Army Airfield, in North Carolina, where they will pick up 40 more paratroopers. Crews made up of women have left the base many times before, but what sets this apart are the 40 parachuting women who are catching it, who will then take a leap with the C-17s.
The US Air Force is currently 20% female, according to the Air Force Personnel Center. Cossaboom said it was not until 2010 that a female crew left the base.
SSgt. Rachel Pye says that having this all-female team now isn’t as unusual as it used to be, it’s more to show that they can make it happen.
Pye says that it is a privilege for her and everyone involved to enter these roles.
“It is really amazing to be able to celebrate all the women who came before us, who opened these doors for us that we can,” said Pye. “That we can only say that we are going to set up a mission fully manned by women, in what is typically a more masculine scenario.”
The two C-17s will return to Charleston Joint Base at 2:30 pm.
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