Warren's pioneer female Airmen

  • Published
  • By Karina Keinanen
  • Former Airman 1st Class
F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --  When women first fully integrated in to the armed services in the 1970s, they comprised less than two percent of the active force and served in 35 percent of the career fields.

One of the first women at Warren was Airman 1st Class Kathleen Enderson who was Strategic Air Command's first Womens Air Force security policeman in 1971. Since 1976, women in the military have served in 90 percent of the career fields, except for those prohibited by legislation or associated service policies, and make up more than 10 percent of the active force.

Although women became active in most career fields in 1976, it wasn't until 1978 that SAC had its first women pull alert duty, one of the last commands to do so.

The first woman to pull missile alert in SAC was 1st Lt. Patricia Fornes, 381st Strategic Missile Wing, McConnell Air Force Base, Kan., on Sept. 16, 1978, on a Titan II missile.

Ten years later, the first woman Minuteman missileer arrived at Warren. First Lt. Lea Holt, missile crew member for the 321st Strategic Missile Squadron, arrived in October and pulled her first alert in January. As a woman missileer, she joined two former Titan II crew members working at Warren in 1989.

Women in 1989 filled almost every available Air Force Specialty Code on Warren. Women in some of the "nontraditional" jobs felt accepted within their fields.

"I'm not treated any differently," said Staff Sgt. Diana Whitaker, a fire protection crew chief with the fire department. "I wouldn't say I'm one of the guys, but if work has to be done we do it together."

Sergeant Whitaker was the only woman in the department at Warren in 1989.

"There's acceptance of women in the field," she said. "The attitude is positive and proper. Everyone has to prove themselves in this business."

"I'm treated like any other crew member and that's the way I want it," Lieutenant Holt said. "At first people went out of their way to make me feel welcome because I was the first woman, but now I get the same attention as anyone else. The guys work just as hard as I do, so I don't deserve any undue attention."

There ended up being seven women missileers total in all the missile squadrons but the 319th.

"The guys help me out a lot," said Airman 1st Class Cindy Clements, an assistant electrical mechanical team chief with the 90th Organizational Missile Maintenance Squadron." They tease me, but they're never derogatory. We work together and help each other out. They try to treat me like one of the guys, but they still apologize when they swear and help me lift heavy equipment." The 90th OMMS had five to seven women.

"Guys are slowly accepting women in our field," said Airman 1st Class Gina Francis, an alarm response team member for the 89th Missile Security Squadron. "I was the first women in my flight. It wasn't too pleasant at first, but things are getting better and women are accepted more each day." There were 12 women in the 989th and between 30 or 40 in the Security Police Group.

From administration specialists to vehicle mechanics to missileers, women worked in nearly every field at Warren by 1989, although their numbers were a small percentage of the total force. Of the 3,117 enlisted, 340 were women. Only 55 of the 640 officers were women. Together they comprised 10.5 percent of Warren's military force.