Maj Christina Hopper Conquered Race, Gender, And The F-16

Task and Purpose ^ | Nov 9, 2016 | Sarah Sicard

[metmom]

For Maj. Christina Hopper, the first black female pilot to fly a fighter jet in war, the military was a place of diversity unlike any other.

Maj. Christina Hopper’s family is about as military as it gets. The legacy of service in her family made being a military brat a key part of her identity. Born in Norway while both her parents were stationed there with the Air Force, Hopper didn’t move to the United States until she was 4 years old.

Her trajectory, following in her parents’ footsteps to the military, was normal, expected almost. But Hopper’s story deviates from the typical military brat-turned service member in that she didn’t only join the Air Force, she became the first black female pilot to fly a fighter jet in combat. And although Hopper is considered a trailblazer, she told Task & Purpose that she felt like one of the crew from day one, and that the uniform always came before race and gender.

An Iraq War veteran, Hopper separated from the active-duty Air Force in 2008 with almost 1,000 hours in the F-16. Today, she is a mother of three, military spouse, and continues to serve in the Air Force Reserve as a T-38 instructor, where she trains the next generation of fighter and bomber pilots. Hopper continues to enhance her legacy through the “Vance Supergirls,” a mentorship group for female aviators.

Recently, she sat down with Task & Purpose to talk about her inspiring journey and the challenges she faced in her military career.

[Pollard]

Not quite black imho. Good for her anyway as there's not many women fighter pilots.

[metmom]

I’d guess she’d easily qualify as much as a former president.

[EEGator]

Per the title, what did she conquer?

I enjoyed her answers, as she had no complaints and is a patriot.

As an aside, endless PC articles will not make things better, but worse. Being tan and having a vagina don’t make you special.

[Leep]

“she became the first black female pilot to fly a fighter jet in combat”

If she would have crashed her plane we wouldn’t hear about her being the ‘first’ anything.
Obviously, she is good at her job.

[Tallguy]

I had the opportunity last week to see an F-16 flight simulator. It was a fully instrumented gondola section that fit onto the end of a centrifuge arm. I’m 6’5” and 240-lbs and there is absolutely no way I could get into that thing. Looks pretty challenging to me.

[Pollard]

He looked 50/50. She looks 25/75. Not knocking her. I'm knocking the pc/tribalist article that refers to her as an African American woman. Here's an example;

At the time, you were one of two African-American women among only 50 total female pilots. How did that impact your early career?

I think the impact was that female pilots were so new that there were logistical-type challenges. But as far as fitting in socially, I was very surprised. I think a lot of female pilots will say the same thing, that the guys accepted us. And there were maybe some guys who were opposed, but I didn’t see that. Our challenge was equipment, making sure that our equipment could be personalized for females.

Notice her reply speaks to being a female but not AA. She probably doesn't think of herself as an AA but the interviewer had to get that in there.

[Pollard]

Check out the author’s twitter feed. Yup a Trump hating, divisive feminist SJW. https://twitter.com/smsicard

[EEGator]

27 year old NY women, what don’t they know?...

[wardaddy]

No kidding

[wardaddy]

Isn’t this blog supposed to be military oriented

Then why so damnable PC

And why Notre such a leftist Trump hating fembot yet cute shrewish young writer

Not much today not infected by the lprogressive Borg

If Lawrence were alive he’d be Bono in todays world

[Rinnwald]

Get back to me when its the first African-American, female, little person, lesbian, cyborg.

[JohnG45]

Being tan and having a vagina don’t make you special.

Vagina?

I thought 'front hole' was the accepted terminology now.

[Mark17]

Bi racial, I think.

[Mark17]

, I was very surprised. I think a lot of female pilots will say the same thing, that the guys accepted us.

I was an air traffic controller, when the career field had no women at all. Then in 1970 or so, we started getting female controllers. We didn’t like it at first, because we didn’t think they could do the job, but when we started seeing how some of these women could move sheet metal around the sky, they earned our respect.

[shanover]

Why is it that most “high profile” people who have one white parent and one black parent identify as black? I find skin color irrelevant, identifying tacky, disingenuous and disrespectful. One’s merits, actions and character as an American is all that is needed. Tiger Woods is a flawed man but he has always handled that issue well and never fell for the race baiting and identifying game.

[EEGator]

LOL, never heard that one.

[Kommodor]

That plane is not designed for either tall or large people. 5’8 and wiry is more the spec.

As for the lovely lady, well, God bless her and thanks for her service. I hope she enjoyed my software.

[JohnG45]

A health information site titled Healthline, which serves a reputed 85 million people a month, is offering an “LGBTQIA Safe Sex Guide” that stipulates the word “vagina” is no longer appropriate for that part of the female genitalia. Instead, the proper term for that orifice is . . . “front hole.”

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll refer to the vagina as the “front hole” instead of solely using the medical term “vagina.” This is gender-inclusive language that’s considerate of the fact that some trans people don’t identify with the labels the medical community attaches to their genitals.

If you use the "v" word again, I'm going to have to report you. /s

[EEGator]

We need a freak/PC purge.

(or just drop them all of in Yemen)