WASHINGTON (AFNEWS) - March is a time to reflect upon the valuable role women play in the defense and service of this nation. It's an opportunity to honor women who have fought for equality at home, as well as those who fight and have fought on the battlefields of wars stretching far back in history.
All social change is forged by those with a pioneering spirit, those who are unafraid to topple barriers, conquer uncharted terrain or lay the groundwork for future generations. While history is full of examples of women's triumphs, each pioneer still has an individual story worth telling. One such pioneer is Brig. Gen. Allison Hickey, a woman of many firsts.
General Hickey, an Air National Guard officer currently heading the Air Force's Total Force Integration directorate, is quick to point out that she does not perceive herself as anything special. She said her successes and her failures have come through the act of living life purposefully, not the act of seeking acclaim.
"I believe in breathing deeply through your nose," she laughed. "There have been times when I've been thrown a challenge and gotten that uncomfortable-in-my-stomach feeling. I've had to remind myself to breathe deeply, jump in with all I've got, and make it the best leap I've ever taken."
General Hickey credits her interest in military service to her upbringing. The daughter of an Army officer, retired Lt. Gen. Bill Hilsman, she spent her childhood moving from post to post. Her deep respect for her parents and her migratory lifestyle compelled her to combine her patriotic devotion with her interest in working with military people.
During her sophomore and junior years of high school she began to question those around her about the possibility of attending one of the military service academies, none of which were yet accessible to women.
"I asked 'Why not me?'" she said. "I spoke about it all the time and obviously someone thought I was serious."
Realizing his daughter's dream of attending a service academy was not a passing fancy, her father invited a fellow Army officer, a woman, to their home.
"She told me not to give up on my dreams and purpose, that there were things happening right now that might one day let me fulfill that dream," she said. "It goes to show that you can be a mentor to someone you hardly know. I had the benefit of a female mentor who spoke with me for just a few hours, and a mother and father that believed I could do anything I set my mind to do. Mentoring takes many shapes."
Not long after, in October 1975, President Ford signed Public Law 94-106 authorizing women the right to attend all military service academies.
General Hickey recalls opening the door of her Ft. Lewis, Wash., home to get the morning paper and seeing the headline announcing that President Ford had granted women access into the service academies. For her, a new adventure had just begun.
After applying to the Merchant Marine Academy, West Point and the Air Force Academy, General Hickey's next hurdle was to earn a sufficiently high score on the SAT to qualify for entry.
"I think I gave up every spare minute of my senior year and my entire Christmas break studying for that test," she recalled. Her perseverance paid off.
While running one afternoon during her senior year on the parade field at Fort Monmouth, N.J., her sister came dashing up to let her know Rep. James Howard was on the phone waiting to speak to her.
"He told me that he did not have a West Point invitation to give me, but he did have one for the Air Force Academy. The catch was I had to give him my answer right on the spot. That moment sure tested the concept of 'jumping in with everything you've got.'"
In June 1976, General Hickey, along with 156 other women, entered the U.S. Air Force Academy as its first female cadets. During her initial years at the academy many individuals left a lasting impression on her, but the women involved in the academy's mentor program for the newly enrolled young women had one of the greatest impacts. The program consisted of 15 female lieutenants handpicked to be air training officers for the new women cadets. One of those 15 ATOs is now the Air Force Materiel Command vice commander, Lt. Gen. Terry Gabreski.
"They were our mentors, confidants, advisors and accountability partners," recalled General Hickey. She believes they are perhaps the greatest unsung heroes during that time of change. According to General Hickey, the academy's graduating class of 1980 is petitioning for the names of these women ATOs' to be added to a memorial at the academy. The impact of these leaders affected her deeply.
"They are wonderful, wonderful women."
Following graduation in 1980, General Hickey's aviation career began in earnest. After attending undergraduate pilot training at Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., she went to combat crew training for the KC-135 Stratotanker at Castle AFB, Calif., graduating with honors.
General Hickey was the first female KC-135 pilot at Grand Forks AFB, N.D. In a few years' time, she would also become the base's first female aircraft commander.
While at Grand Forks, General Hickey witnessed a major milestone in the Air Force's evolution as the concept of female aviators became rooted. There were some initial concerns by some about the perceived physical ability of women to perform certain aspects of the mission, particularly as aircrews began to have more than one woman on the team. In fact, for a period there was a policy that no crew could have more than one woman.
There were concerns female pilots might not have the strength to perform a number of different emergency responses. One was the ability to land the aircraft in the event of a combined engine and hydraulic power failure. Typically, a pilot had to show the ability to "stand on the rudder" to accomplish this emergency procedure only once, General Hickey recalled.
"It got to the point where it became no big deal to me because I was doing it nearly every time I flew with someone new," she said.
She's quick to say the constant testing didn't bother her.
"Some people need to see things for themselves to be comfortable with a change. If it was going to help them make the leap, I'd gladly stand on another rudder."
Women were granted no special privileges, and on many occasions female crew members had to overcome challenges. In many of those instances, ingenuity prevailed where brawn and muscle fell short.
"There was one time when another woman and I had to load the tanker without the use of stairs," she said. "The typical way to do that was to toss the bags from the ground to the cargo door, and that was not always an easy feat unless you grew up tossing hay. We used our noggins instead and crafted a lever and pulley system to get everything into the jet."
The newness of female pilots to the Air Force provided General Hickey with many stories and laughs. In pilot training, darts had to be sewn into G-suits because women had curves unaccounted for in the original male design.
At another point, the Air Force was not sure if hormone or birth control pills would have some type of negative physiological impact on women aviators. Consequently, women who were prescribed these medicines were grounded for several months and were required to provide waivers.
General Hickey remembered with amusement a time when she and her crew were on a refueling mission near Grand Forks AFB. The novelty of hearing a woman's voice on the other end of the transmission created quite a stir.
"When I cleared the F-4 (Phantom) to the refueling position there was this long, drawn-out pause before the fighter pilot came onto the frequency jokingly saying, 'Holy cow, the next thing you know, they'll be giving them the vote!' These guys had never heard a woman's voice on any military aircraft before. I think during the pause he was 'breathing deeply' through his nose. This was a pretty big change to process."
Looking back, General Hickey is quick to dispute the assumption that men were predominantly responsible for the hardships women endured during their first years, and feels many of her greatest mentors have been men.
"Throughout my career the best and worst examples of leadership have always been gender-neutral so most of my stories are not about challenges or difficulties in that vein, although I have those, too," she said. "The stories I really remember are the ones of humor and help."
The ability to make deliberate choices and having the courage to stand by decisions, despite dissenting opinions, have been major factors in General Hickey's success. In the midst of her blossoming career and a newly announced marriage engagement, she found herself in the difficult position of having to choose between two remarkable opportunities: taking an Air Staff Training Residency Assignment, or ASTRA, which would later become the Air Force Fellows Program, or piloting the then brand new, state-of-the-art KC-10 Extender aircraft. When she asked her functional career advisor for his opinion after telling him of her impending nuptials, the reply was not what she had expected.
"He told me, 'It doesn't matter which you choose, getting married will end your career.'"
While not the advice she was seeking, she did take something positive away from this encounter.
"We all have opportunities to be encouraging or to assist someone through difficult hurdles, and we all have opportunities to kill another person's dream," she said. "How you respond to those opportunities is a choice that can have a significant impact on another person's life and your own character."
Marriage did not end General Hickey's career. On the contrary, she credits her career successes to two very significant influences: the "grace of God," and Rob, her husband of 21 years. She acknowledged the strain that comes with balancing the roles of wife, mother and figurehead but finds stability in the strength of her marriage.
"My husband has carried a great load as a spouse, advisor and friend," she said. An academy graduate himself, he also has balanced his own career, time in service and responsibilities as a parent.
In 1987, life threw a surprise in General Hickey's direction along with yet another opportunity to leave her imprint on the "list of firsts." Deployed on a KC-10 flying mission in Spain, immersed in a new land and without her regular crew, General Hickey developed symptoms of appendicitis and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
Initially, the cultural differences made interaction difficult. The physicians spoke no English and neither she nor her aircraft commander, Capt. Mike Fountain, spoke any Spanish. Fortunately, the confusion cleared up rather quickly.
"The language barriers melted away when they started pointing at the sonogram screen and saying 'baby,'" she recalled with a smile.
Days earlier, the Air Force had enacted a new waiver allowing expectant women to pilot aircraft for up to six months. Her son Tyler, the first of three children, began his life following the pioneering footsteps of his mother. Today her son can boast about being the Air Force's first-known pilot's child flying in utero.
At that time in Air Force history, few female officers and even fewer aviators had children. Despite this relatively new scenario for the Air Force, General Hickey found that she was met with a considerable amount of support. In a gesture of good humor, the deployment crew stuck a "Baby on Board" sign in the boom pod of the aircraft she was flying.
General Hickey's role as a mother was one of several events that significantly altered the course of her life. Many of the transitions she has made in her career can be traced to commitment to her family, including her moves between the regular, Guard and Reserve components. She is one of the few officers to have served in all three and knows firsthand the pros and cons of a "continuum of service."
"I don't believe that making those family choices is a reflection on what kind of officer, Airman, performer or patriot you are," she said.
Her philosophy of embracing change and "breathing deeply" was put to the test in 2004. While working in the Strategic Planning Directorate of Headquarters Air Force, she was asked by the director at the time, Lt. Gen. Stephen G. Wood, to stand up a new directorate dedicated to the Air Force's critical need to further integrate its three components: regular, Guard and Reserve. She remembers receiving the offer Friday, "breathing deeply" over the weekend, and then stepping to the plate Monday.
Her hands-on experience with all three components provided her with a direct knowledge of the capabilities of the Total Force, and she brings this expertise to her current position as director of the Total Force Integration Directorate. It was as though time and fate intersected to have her in position to lead when the need for transformation in the Air Force was so crucial.
"The career path I have followed has not been normal," she said. "In fact, many would say it has defied logic and pattern. I believe it shows that the Air Force needs both generalists and specialists alike. I also believe, as we live our Total Force Integration vision there will be more diversity in our career opportunities."
It was this unusual career path that gave her the blend of skill sets necessary to take on the extensive task of establishing the TFI Directorate and lead for the overall Air Force initiative. Her "illogical" career path has also afforded her another great distinction: she is one of six women from the academy graduating class of 1980 to join the general officer ranks.
General Hickey's Air Guard career started as a technician and eventually the strategic planner and education and training officer for the Pennsylvania Air National Guard at Willow Grove. Her first position at the National Guard Bureau was as the director of operations for the ANG Productivity and Quality Center. She became the first ANG woman to attend National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. And after graduation, she became the director of strategic initiatives for the Office of Director, Air National Guard. She then worked on early efforts to shift state headquarters to joint force headquarters in the strategic initiatives office for the chief of the National Guard Bureau.
General Hickey returned to the Air Force as a colonel to lead the Air Force Future Concept and Transformation effort. Since her promotion to general officer in 2004, she has been affiliated with the Ohio Air National Guard. About six months after her promotion, Hickey was sent back to the Air Force as the assistant deputy director for Air Force Strategic Planning. A year later, she was asked to open the Air Force's Future Total Force directorate, which is now called the Total Force Integration directorate.
In the TFI directorate, General Hickey and her staff are charged with restructuring the Air Force by integrating the regular, Guard and Reserve components in a way that maximizes overall efficiency, effectiveness and capability.
Thus far, the directorate has championed 138 integration initiatives, shifted nearly $4 billion worth of new Air Force missions and organizational constructs, and driven significant changes in Total Force law, policy, doctrine and process, all in less than two years' time. The staff itself is a microcosm of the Total Force Integration vision, and is composed of regular, Guard, and Reserve Airmen, as well as civilians and contractors.
For many Airmen, the Air Force's recent force shaping restructure and Total Force Integration effort means a series of transitions. They may mean new mission sets, cross-training, or life-style and location changes.
Having "been there" at several times in her life, she has a special place in her heart for these Airmen. Her advice to those in this situation is to find their passions, "either those things you'd love doing anywhere, or new things that you don't mind taking a risk to try in anticipation that it will be the best thing you've ever done."
She suggests using well-established military, family and community networks to express interests, and to use these outlets to ask for help reaching objectives.
"Taking care of people is one of the best things Airmen do for one another. Taking care of Airmen in transition is no different. In my mind, you are an Airman for life, no matter which path life takes you."
"Leaving the service, moving to a new mission area, being asked to learn a new weapon system or job, or in the case of the Guard, changing your state affiliation, all take guts," General Hickey said. "The guts it takes to fight a war are the same guts it takes to live life courageously and deliberately. They are the same guts required to take a leap when faced with a life-altering path or change."
As with change in her own life, General Hickey realizes that it is not always easy to see the positive aspects of change, or to see the benefit of having to do something new, especially when the change is unexpected. She believes there is always opportunity under the turmoil of the "unknown."
As she looks back over her military accomplishments, she muses about the many twists and turns along the way.
"Life is not always about what you first started doing, what you already know how to do, or going where others have already made a path. So when faced with it, breathe deeply and frequently and take the leap," she advised. "There is more opportunity than you can imagine on the other side of change."