Please be advised the following episode contains references to violence and may not be suitable for all audiences. Welcome to Veterans you should Know a podcast from My Heart Radio that celebrates the men and women who have honorably answered a call to serve their country in the Armed Forces. I'm Rob Reel, actor, comedian, and former Marine raw In this special series Honoring Veterans Day, I'll be speaking with four incredible veterans as they detail challenges they've faced and how their experiences in military service served them in their everyday civilian lives. For this episode, we're switching things up a bit and speaking with a future veteran. Chief Warrant Officer. Natasha Ryan is an active duty black Hawk pilot with multiple deployments under her belt in her twenty plus years in the Army. Yeah. I didn't join for probably the most patriotic reasons, but I will tell you that it has. You know, over the wars of these last two decades absolutely changed who I am at the core of myself. Her first time stationed overseas, she bumpd with two women aviators who encouraged her to submit a flight package to become a pilot. And to her surprise but not ours, she was accepted into the pilot training program, changing her life forever. Thank you for joining us, Natasha. Welcome to the show. Thanks Rob. It's really great to be here. So let's just start at the beginning. Shall we tell us where you're from and how you found your way to the military. So I joined in and I was in Ohio, That's where I grew up. I was lifeguarding over the summer, playing soccer out of four ride scholarship, and there were two of us that were on four rides. The other girl had blown out her knee that season in the school said hey, we're not to pay for school next year. So I thought, Man, if that happens to me, what am I going to do? So went home lifeguarden was talking to some of my friends there and one of them said, Hey, what do you think about joint in the military? IM I know they pay for school. I know that's not the most patriotic answer, but that's what got me in the door. That's a real answer. That's a very real answer, and it applies to almost everybody signs up. So yeah, I can tell you twenty two years later though, that's not why I'm still here. But anyway, so I went talked to recruiters, signed up, and was relatively quickly off on my first deployment to Bosnia. And it was just kind of hooked. You know, when you're young and you work at a pizza shop or something like that, you don't realize that you could potentially have a real impact in the world. And so getting the opportunity to go overseas and see the way other people live outside of our you know, America bubble and being able to affect that was hugely impactful for me. So it wasn't too long after that that I just said, man, I gotta do this. Yeah, and you're right, a lot of people underestimate that. I remember Tom Rix, who was a journalist for the Well Street Journal who wrote a book about the Marine Corps, and he and he was talking about some of the Marines he met, these nineteen twenty year old squad leaders that we're taking patrols through the streets of Somalia, and their decisions our international incidents, you know, like if they decide to engage, if they tried to pull that trigger, if they decide that has global ramifications potentially, and you have these nineteen twenty year old soldier or marine out there making those decisions, sailor or airmen making those decisions, and to think, like you just said, a year before, they were in a pizza shop. So it is really amazing that you can go from something like that to a tremendous amount of responsibility. Now you find yourself in the army, you're deployed pretty quickly, but you decided to change jobs. If I understand correctly, and you did not, it's not small change either. It was a pretty radical change in MS, which for our non military listeners military occupational specialty, your j Ob, can you tell us about that? Yeah. So when I came in in the jobs that were offered to me were predominantly administrative jobs, and so I got a job as a seventy one LIMA Fox five and back then that was an administrative specialist with a postal specialty. And so I went on this mission of Pakistan where we were based out of the Islami Bod Embassy and helping to run the mail out of there. And when I got to one of the posts we're staying the night there, I woke up in the morning and there were two women that got up and they had flight suits on and it's kind of embarrassing, but it was two thousand four or two thousand five, and I didn't realize that. I've never seen a woman pilot. I just didn't realize that was a thing. So I asked them if they were crew chiefs and they they said, no, we're pilots. And I spent a good part of the deployment with them, flying the mail around to these different spots in Pakistan, and they said, hey, you should, if you're interested in it, you should put a flight packet in and they said it just like that, so that it sounded like it was going to be real easy, and uh, and it was not. The packet process, the school, none of it was easy. Yeah, that sounds like a classic recruiters trick. Oh yeah, it's a walk in the park. Yeah, you do a little boot camps, no big deal. Then you go a little training here and there, and then you're gonna be stationed in Hawaii. Trust me, just signed right here. It's amazing how they do that. But that's awesome. So these two aviators, you spent a lot of time with them, obviously traveling around, flying around, delivering the mail. Yeah, that tie you spent with them, something triggered in you. You saw something that you thought you could do. I'll definitely say that I feel like representation is really important. I would have never thought that I could do that job if I didn't see somebody like me doing it. I don't know if I don't think that I couldn't have done it, but I probably would have thought that there wasn't a place for me, and maybe I wasn't welcome, so put the packet in. I was in Korea when they called and said, hey, you got selected, and you know, my first thought was a ship. I better hurry up and get smart. So I went to Warrant Officer Candidate school and I got through that a lot of rite of passage stuff, just seeing who can suck the best. And got out of that school and they said, hey, we're getting ready to go to see your school next. Before one can earn their pilot wings, they must pass Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Training, also known as SEER school. This military school prepares perspective pilots for a worst case scenario. It teaches them what to do and how to survive if their aircraft goes down. Behind enemy lines. If you pass, the next stop is flight school. The Army's warrant officer flight program has the nickname high School to flight School because it's the only service that allows pilot training without a college degree. After two years of classroom and hands on training, Natasha earned her gold wings as a qualified Army Blackhawk pilot. When you enlisted, did you ever think that you were going to be in the cockpit flying in a combat zone? I mean, did you ever have that moment when you're sitting the cockpit going through your checklist, going, Wow, this is happening. I'm here, I'm driving this thing. Wow, brob, I ever thought I was going to join the military. I mean, that was never even in my plans, let alone to be a rotary wing aviator. I mean, it just never crossed my mind. And I'll tell you, I distinctly remember thinking, when I was putting this packet in, You're probably not going to get picked up, but at least this is a good story to tell your kids when they try out for like Little League and they don't make the team, that hey, at least you tried, because now you know. And so when they called, that really was my first thought. I was like, oh, ship, get smart, hurry up. But when I the first time I set in a black Hawk, I remember just looking around me and thinking, there's nowhere they didn't put a switch or a button or a lever, and how am I ever going to get all this down? It was overwhelming. Yes, it absolutely is. I had a little pilot experienced myself when I started in the Marine Corps, so I fully appreciate what you're describing and what you're talking about, and it is a daunting task. And I do appreciate what you're saying to about trying going for something and whether it happens or doesn't happen, it's the fact that you through your head in the ring and said I'm willing to give it a shot. And then when they call your bluff, it's another thing because then you're like, oh, crap, I gotta get smart like you just said, or I better figure this out, or I guess I'm in this now. But it's kind of a wonderful thing too, because it brings out your best. Usually you find that your whatever you your thought your limits were, they weren't there. They were way above and that's great for growth for personal growth. I think, Yeah, I think a place that I have lived in consistently is a place of impostor syndrome and just constantly being around all of these greats and just thinking what am I doing among these people? And it's a matter of time before I'm found out. And so I remember going through flight school and I kept a notebook of whenever the i P or the instructor would say, like, you got that I was at the North and South, Yeah, I got it, I got it, and I'd write it down. They probably thought I was taking notes and I was on all the ship I didn't understand. We have a library on Fort Rutger that's just for flight school students, and some old, well seasoned aviators work in that library. So I would take my notebook with me there every single night, and I would set with those old guys and I would man, I'd tell me, I need you to tell me about this, because I definitely said I understood, I don't am I I P is gonna ask me about it tomorrow. Get me smart tonight. That's so smart, though, and that's so true. I obviously I served two and my answer was always yes, sir, yes, ma'am got it. Absolutely locked and loaded. I'm moving out right now to go take care of that. And I would go run around the halls going what does this mean? What does this mean? What do I do? You know you're looking for answers anywhere, but the answers always yes, I got it, I got it. And then you then you go find it somehow. You find somebody smart, or find somebody has a clue, and you start doing your detective work. But I do love the fact that you took the time to find your way through it. You didn't take anything for granted. You found that resource. I heard you say earlier. I want to go back for one second. You know, when I joined it, you know, it didn't feel like it was for the most patriotic reasons or whatever. It felt like it was more business and more practical. But that is that. That's life, you know. It is a little bit of patriotism. Otherwise you would have come up with other options, but it is practical. Over your time of service and through the growth professionally and probably personally that you've gone through in the military, maybe that outlook has changed a little bit. I don't know. You tell us, yeah, I mean, you know, when I think about it. I think probably the best analogy is like you don't meet your significant other because you bet they have a great personality, you know, I mean they're good looking, and the the same goes for the army. Yeah. I didn't join for probably the most patriotic reasons, but I will tell you that it has, you know, over the course of these last two decades, absolutely changed who I am at the core of myself. No other generation of members of the military have been in too full scale conflicts literally for two decades consecutively. So there were many times where it was coming back from a deployment and waiting sometimes twelve months to the day before we were off again. For a lot of us, that was our life for a good portion of our careers, was just going back. And there was a point where I felt like I knew how to fly better in Afghanistan. I mean without a map, I felt like I could have flown you around that country. I was just there so much. But it truly becomes a part of your identity, you know. Now I'm I'm a wife and a mom and I remember, I mean this just happened, my daughter telling me that she didn't want to go to school and I could not help but think back to when we had assisted in UH building a school for these little girls in Afghanistan, and the Taliban had come in two days after we opened it and poisoned their water and killed them all, and so things like that. I mean, that absolutely impacts how I parent, because I definitely let Gabby Ryan know that, you know, in our house, you're gonna be grateful to go to school, You're gonna be happy. You've got running water in there, You've got great teachers, you have a whole building over your head. There's so much to be grateful for. And I don't ever want her to take that for granted, because the bottom line is eight of the world doesn't live like we do, and I just don't want her to ever forget how fortunate she is to be here. So I would have to say that my experience over the last two decades of absolutely I got the degree. I got two of them. H nice. But who I am is greatly largely in part to the experiences and the people I've met in the military. I think for people who have seen firsthand what tyranny looks like or injustice, it's something you never forget and you never take for granted. And so I have kids too, so I hear you. When I try to explain to them just how precious what we have and how valuable it is, and they want to get a Starbucks, I'm like, did you even hear what I just said? You know, it's crazy. On Natasha's first deployment to Afghanistan, she was part of a female Engagement team. These specific teams of women's service members work with special operations forces, similar affairs and intelligence teams. Their mission to help open up lines of communication and local villages. Male soldiers were often seen as threatening. Had engagement teams with women like Natasha's had the potential to build rapport with the Afghan women, and that was often critical it's admission success. There was a time we went to this women's hospital and we were told there was a portion of our training where it was like we were shown pictures that were of essentially women that would have been like disfigured somewhat, and you had to practice just keeping like a straight face when you saw this stuff, because when she realized you could speak dor, she'd get a little bit more comfortable with you, and they were really comfortable with you. They would take their book off, and sometimes you just didn't know what was going to be under there. We definitely we saw things like um saying there was a man without honor as a man without a nose. So when some of these really young girls would run away from you know, what was their sixty year old husband that they've been married to, and they would capture them again, they would cut their noses off. So you just had to really practice. She'd take that broke off, and you just have to brace for impact because it might be an eye gouged out, it might be an ear cut off. One woman, her son kept speaking for her and I couldn't figure out why, and I realized eventually that she had her tongue cut out. And the perspective that you get when you get into these situations is I'll never be I'll never be the same, and I'm so grateful for that, absolutely, And somebody has to tell that story. Somebody has to tell those stories because I think people back home have no concept of the tyranny and the terror that people live under every day. Veterans you should know will return after the break, Welcome back to veterans you should know in the army. I believe women make up about I could be off on that, but those are the numbers that I heard women make about of the army going down that funnel. It's even less in the aviation community. Oh yeah, Do you feel like you are a mentor two young women out there that want to be pilots? Do you feel that responsibility or do you feel eyes upon you? We tiptoe around it so much, and I really think that women really just want to be the same as you know, no special considerations. I think as far as the mentorship goes, there were not a lot of higher ranking women when I was coming up, and so I feel like at this juncture it's important for me to stick around and important for me to make sure that not just the young women, but it's normalized for the young men also, and that we can be a mom and a wife. You can have a family and continue to do this job. It doesn't have to detract from your capabilities in the cockpit or or wherever they're doing the job. But I think the important thing is for women, did just realize that we're absolutely capable, competent able to do this and we should be there. I agree? I agree. Do you think the opportunities are there, you know, like I said, when I was coming up, nobody said, hey, girl, there's this really cool crew chief job, or you could do a program called high school to flight school. Nobody mentioned any really cool jobs like that. And when you think about joining the military, you don't think about processing some cool guys pay problems. You know, you think about going and doing a really cool army job. I think I wasn't any different, and then going to do an administrative job was a little bit of a letdown. But that doesn't have to be the end. You know, that doesn't have to be where you stop. You've got to continue to push forward and look for those opportunities. They're there. They might not be offered up to you, but they are there, and you can. You have to go seek those out. In all opportunities and occupations in the military were open to women for the first time. We are still seeing many first because of that. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery is a sacred memorial in resting place for unidentified service members who perished in war. A guard from the Army's third U S Infantry Regiment, also known as the Old Guard, stands watch over the unknown soldier at all times. This fall, for the first time in history, the tomb had its first all female changing up the guard. When I saw that image, it was incredibly powerful to me. I mean, I think that is for sure in our military, guarding the tomb is just absolutely one of the highest honors that there is. And too for the first time ever, get to see that there were three women doing it was, you know, like I said, an incredibly powerful image. I know it resonates to me being in the military, but I think the important thing is for the generations to come seeing that, and not just the women, not just the young women, but the male population as well, to start normalizing that and viewing that women's contribution can be just as equal to a male's and and a lot of different occupations. So I think there is a standard to be met, and just like there is for the soldiers that guard the him, there's some strict standards that have to be met, and if that individual male, female, black, white, whatever it may be, if they have met those standards, let them have the job. I couldn't agree more. I think if you meet the standards, there should be no limits on anything. It's all about meeting the standards. You are a woman, and you are a leader, and you are a soldier. These are all facts. They're not in dispute. So let's talk about that, Like, do you see progress? Are you feeling like there is progress with regard to women in the army and the military in general. Absolutely, And I think the fantastic thing is that women are aggressively seeking it. And I think we are up to eighty four women that have been through ranger school and we just had a woman lead, a woman ranger lead in combat, and I think that those things are incredible, and I'm so excited that for my daughter, those aren't going to be first, you know, and that happens for her and her later years. It's not going to be a first. It's going to be normal. You said you have a daughter. You mentioned your daughter. What do you want her to know about your service? If she could have one takeaway that she gets to put in her hip pocket for the rest of her life, what would what would you want that to be. I've thought about that a lot, actually, you know, and I think that this is probably a thought that crosses anyone's mind who has I guess as far as the military goes anyone that has some rank about them, or has held a position of high authority, or had a really illustrious career. You worry that are your kids going to feel like they're always kind of standing in your shadow? Are they going to feel like they have to live up to what you did? I wanted to give everything to whatever she decides to do and know that she is very loved and very supported. I had a mom that just really never made me feel like there wasn't anywhere that I There was no where I didn't belong, so I never knew that there were places I probably wasn't welcome, and so I just walked in the door like I was supposed to be there, and I felt like the people that thought I shouldn't be were the ones with the problem. Just try, you know, I mean I tried and I got picked up, you know, So whatever it is, just jump in. Because failure is an integral part of success. You cannot have one without the other. And I've failed a lot more times than I ever succeeded. True words were never spoken when I started in acting in comedy. I failed so many times and they were all just flaming disasters. And yet if you stick with it, things can happen. So I totally agree with you on that. You also have a husband who I believe was a marine, which I'm sure that is a never ending source of frustration for you to hear his marine pride every day. Now he's out of the service, right now, he is out right, he's already in civilian as. He grown his beard and his hair and his hippie now he has wait, well, i'll tell you this. Robbie still gets his haircut on a military base, but he definitely has a tamed out beard. But yeah, it's tough, man. I have to hide the crayons all the time. It's hard when you got a five year old and they're fighting over crayons to eat. But now he's a great guy. We met on my last tour to Afghanistan, so you know, it was super scandalous and he was a contractor when I met him over there. He had just gotten out the Marine Corps, came over to do some private security contracting, and man, he was relentless. It was really like, you're going to marry me? Pretty much, I'm not gonna leave you alone and tell you marry me. Marina admission is a dangerous thing, is it? Is it ever? Yeah, So came back to Texas with me and really it's just been an adventure. From there. We then PCs to Germany and went all over Europe. Fantastic. Yeah, he's a great dude. He's an accountant now, believe it or not. And if you ever saw Chris, he still looks very much like a marine. Still very much in great shape, super handsome man, and he crunches numbers for a living and loves it and it is really good at it. Wow, I I it's so hard to visualize a marine putting himself in a cubicle with numbers all day. Military people speaking acronyms PCs. You mentioned that, you know, you and your husband PCs throughout Europe. Can you please just let the people know what PCs means. Yeah, it's a permanent change of station. Now that means you went to Europe and we're stationed there and then probably got to move around Europe a little bit and in the in that process, got to travel all through Europe. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah, that's what That's what the recruiter promised. And you're probably the only person that they ever delivered for on a promise like that. Oh yeah, it was a great time. I mean any time that we had time off, we would jump on a Ryan Air flight for like twenty bucks and we would be gone and some completely different culture, completely different food architecture. We kept a really cool scrap book too, so that Gabby can look back on those memories. I mean, we took her all over Morocco, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland. Those are all those places I want to go to, all those places. Those are places sound amazing and brought to you by the United States Army. So I guess you know that is one of those little you know, they make a lot of promises in the recruiting office and very few payoffs, so that one clearly paid off for you, which is great. Sure did Sure did so, Natasha. A little Bertie told me that you are thinking about retiring soon. One is that correct? And two? If so, what are you looking forward to in civilian life? Yeah? So I got probably roughly to three more years left. You know, coming down to the end is definitely bitter sweet. You look forward to retirement and then it comes and you're like, man, how am I going to keep in touch? With all my friends. What am I going to miss out on a lot of fomo there? But I have definitely pondered teaching after I get out. I think you're almost remiss to have all of these worldly opportunities, and really, you know, like we were a small piece of history, you know, things that are going to go into these kids history books, and we weren't there, you know. And you talk about the military being one person of the population, and we are the one percent that was actually their boots on ground, smelled it, saw it, tasted, it hurt it. So I think the opportunity to give some of those first hand accounts are important. And then you know, like we had talked about earlier, the appreciation for what education holds, especially for demographics around the world that literally going to school is a fight for your life. Maybe absolutely, I love that. I think teaching is very noble. My mother was a teacher for thirty in years. I've actually thought about that too, to be honest with you, because I do agree with everything you just said. I think with the the experience and the knowledge that you have, you would almost be remiss not to somehow give that back with the wisdom that came along with that. Now, your husband, I have to do that every time the marine. Now he's been a civilian for a while. How has that helped you? I mean, you're you're about to leave twenty plus years, whatever you end up doing. Have you seen your husband in civilian life and his path and his experiences and his does that help in any way? Does that help shape what you're thinking? Yeah, Rob here reminds me anytime he sees me, like get up for something at at five or six o'clock in the morning, he makes sure to let me know, just quietly out here in the darkness. I don't miss that, you know. So I I know that he's definitely happy in the civilian world. I'm anxious, you know, because there's a certain way that we communicate with each other in the military, and it's usually very direct. I don't know how that translates into the civilian world. You know, you don't want to go into school like a drill instructor. But at the same time, I feel like my class would be very orderly and disciplined, and so I don't know, I might have to pick a whole different profession. I might have to you know what, I might have to go back to the mail. I might have to go back to walking the mail solitary with my dog, mace and headphones on. That might be what I have to do. No, I'm with you. As military people. We we cut through the bs and we get right to the point because we don't have time for the polish and the pleasant trees, and it's just business. Let's just get to business. Here's what you do, here's what I do. I trust you to do what you do. I trust me to do what I do. Let's work together, let's get the thing done. And out there in civilian land there's a lot more bs and polish. It's exhausting, and we come off as terse sometimes because we're just like, okay, let's just cut to the quick. I hear you. That is a little bit of a difference. I would say, could You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Your class of love you for it. You really have had an amazing career and one that I hope people aspired to because you do have this wonderful journey where you took advantage of all your opportunities and you made the most of them. You made it happen for yourself. You were the captain of your own ship and you did it, which to me is what this whole life is about. If people are thinking about joining the military, what would be your advice, what would be your nugget of wisdom that you can pass on after your journey that you've been through. Gosh, there's so much, you know. That's a tough question because it's wide open ended. It is, and I think the best advice that I could give them is these are probably going to be some of the most at least for me, especially flying the Metavact mission. These were for sure the most honorable days of my life. I don't think that there is something better that I could even think to do. So it's gonna have its moments that are incredibly fulfilling, and like any other job, you're going to have, you know, people you work with that you don't like, maybe hours you work that you you don't appreciate, and bosses you don't like. I mean, the good news in the military is are going to change out every two years to just hang on, but you're gonna get to go to some pretty amazing places that you may not have otherwise. You will for sure meet people that you would not have sat down and had conversations with otherwise, and you're gonna make some of the best friends of your life. Friendships that you know, you don't see that person for five years, and when you get back together, you pick up right where you left off. It's incredible. If I could get a certification, if I could get a degree I did. The Army used to have a saying back in the day of be all you can be, and I really try to take that to heart. I think I came from an environment where statistically I probably shouldn't have six in it. My dad wasn't like a West Pointer nobody and my family had gone to college at that point. Yeah, there was no reason that I should be where I am today. But I really think that at the end of the day, those decisions. You know, life's about choices, so you really got to choose wisely, and it is up to you. You can work at the post office and put a flight packet in and go fly helicopters. You know, you can go from driving around a fifteen pack van with mail in it to find a two million dollar aircraft. It's definitely up to you. I know, specifically, like you just said, some people feel like I've heard infection and say, well, you know, I don't understand how to get anything done on trust me that post nine eleven g I Bill. If you don't take advantage of that, you are missing the opportunity of a lifetime. It can change your life, it can change the trajectory of what you want to do with your life. Just give it a shot, find out how to make it happen, because it's worth it anyway. Natasha, I can't thank you enough for being here today and sharing your story with us and inspiring me and hopefully inspiring anybody who heard you today, because I think you are what it means to join the military and just carve out a path for yourself and something that everybody, including yourself, can be proud of. So thank you. Thanks for being with us today. Thank you, Rob, I really appreciate it. Thanks so much to Natasha for joining us and sharing her incredible words of wisdom. I know you're going to go on and do great things in retirements. You are an incredible role model, not only to your daughter, but to really anybody who meets you. Thanks for listening to veterans. You should know to hear more inspiring stories of perseverance and camaraderie. Check out all our episodes, including those from season one, featuring veterans who have overcome incredible obstacles and found renewed purpose in their civilian lives. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the podcast. We would love to hear from you. You can listen to the show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Veterans you Should Know as a special four parts series from I Heart Radio and hosted by me Rob Wriggle. Our show is written and produced by Molly Soscha, Nikia Swinton, and Jackie Perez, with assistance from Quincy Fuller. The show is edited, sound designed, and mixed by James Foster and Matt Stilla.

Please be advised the following episode contains references to violence and may not be suitable for all audiences. Welcome to Veterans you should Know a podcast from My Heart Radio that celebrates the men and women who have honorably answered a call to serve their country in the Armed Forces. I'm Rob Reel, actor, comedian, and former Marine raw In this special series Honoring Veterans Day, I'll be speaking with four incredible veterans as they detail challenges they've faced and how their experiences in military service served them in their everyday civilian lives. For this episode, we're switching things up a bit and speaking with a future veteran. Chief Warrant Officer. Natasha Ryan is an active duty black Hawk pilot with multiple deployments under her belt in her twenty plus years in the Army. Yeah. I didn't join for probably the most patriotic reasons, but I will tell you that it has. You know, over the wars of these last two decades absolutely changed who I am at the core of myself. Her first time stationed overseas, she bumpd with two women aviators who encouraged her to submit a flight package to become a pilot. And to her surprise but not ours, she was accepted into the pilot training program, changing her life forever. Thank you for joining us, Natasha. Welcome to the show. Thanks Rob. It's really great to be here. So let's just start at the beginning. Shall we tell us where you're from and how you found your way to the military. So I joined in and I was in Ohio, That's where I grew up. I was lifeguarding over the summer, playing soccer out of four ride scholarship, and there were two of us that were on four rides. The other girl had blown out her knee that season in the school said hey, we're not to pay for school next year. So I thought, Man, if that happens to me, what am I going to do? So went home lifeguarden was talking to some of my friends there and one of them said, Hey, what do you think about joint in the military? IM I know they pay for school. I know that's not the most patriotic answer, but that's what got me in the door. That's a real answer. That's a very real answer, and it applies to almost everybody signs up. So yeah, I can tell you twenty two years later though, that's not why I'm still here. But anyway, so I went talked to recruiters, signed up, and was relatively quickly off on my first deployment to Bosnia. And it was just kind of hooked. You know, when you're young and you work at a pizza shop or something like that, you don't realize that you could potentially have a real impact in the world. And so getting the opportunity to go overseas and see the way other people live outside of our you know, America bubble and being able to affect that was hugely impactful for me. So it wasn't too long after that that I just said, man, I gotta do this. Yeah, and you're right, a lot of people underestimate that. I remember Tom Rix, who was a journalist for the Well Street Journal who wrote a book about the Marine Corps, and he and he was talking about some of the Marines he met, these nineteen twenty year old squad leaders that we're taking patrols through the streets of Somalia, and their decisions our international incidents, you know, like if they decide to engage, if they tried to pull that trigger, if they decide that has global ramifications potentially, and you have these nineteen twenty year old soldier or marine out there making those decisions, sailor or airmen making those decisions, and to think, like you just said, a year before, they were in a pizza shop. So it is really amazing that you can go from something like that to a tremendous amount of responsibility. Now you find yourself in the army, you're deployed pretty quickly, but you decided to change jobs. If I understand correctly, and you did not, it's not small change either. It was a pretty radical change in MS, which for our non military listeners military occupational specialty, your j Ob, can you tell us about that? Yeah. So when I came in in the jobs that were offered to me were predominantly administrative jobs, and so I got a job as a seventy one LIMA Fox five and back then that was an administrative specialist with a postal specialty. And so I went on this mission of Pakistan where we were based out of the Islami Bod Embassy and helping to run the mail out of there. And when I got to one of the posts we're staying the night there, I woke up in the morning and there were two women that got up and they had flight suits on and it's kind of embarrassing, but it was two thousand four or two thousand five, and I didn't realize that. I've never seen a woman pilot. I just didn't realize that was a thing. So I asked them if they were crew chiefs and they they said, no, we're pilots. And I spent a good part of the deployment with them, flying the mail around to these different spots in Pakistan, and they said, hey, you should, if you're interested in it, you should put a flight packet in and they said it just like that, so that it sounded like it was going to be real easy, and uh, and it was not. The packet process, the school, none of it was easy. Yeah, that sounds like a classic recruiters trick. Oh yeah, it's a walk in the park. Yeah, you do a little boot camps, no big deal. Then you go a little training here and there, and then you're gonna be stationed in Hawaii. Trust me, just signed right here. It's amazing how they do that. But that's awesome. So these two aviators, you spent a lot of time with them, obviously traveling around, flying around, delivering the mail. Yeah, that tie you spent with them, something triggered in you. You saw something that you thought you could do. I'll definitely say that I feel like representation is really important. I would have never thought that I could do that job if I didn't see somebody like me doing it. I don't know if I don't think that I couldn't have done it, but I probably would have thought that there wasn't a place for me, and maybe I wasn't welcome, so put the packet in. I was in Korea when they called and said, hey, you got selected, and you know, my first thought was a ship. I better hurry up and get smart. So I went to Warrant Officer Candidate school and I got through that a lot of rite of passage stuff, just seeing who can suck the best. And got out of that school and they said, hey, we're getting ready to go to see your school next. Before one can earn their pilot wings, they must pass Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Training, also known as SEER school. This military school prepares perspective pilots for a worst case scenario. It teaches them what to do and how to survive if their aircraft goes down. Behind enemy lines. If you pass, the next stop is flight school. The Army's warrant officer flight program has the nickname high School to flight School because it's the only service that allows pilot training without a college degree. After two years of classroom and hands on training, Natasha earned her gold wings as a qualified Army Blackhawk pilot. When you enlisted, did you ever think that you were going to be in the cockpit flying in a combat zone? I mean, did you ever have that moment when you're sitting the cockpit going through your checklist, going, Wow, this is happening. I'm here, I'm driving this thing. Wow, brob, I ever thought I was going to join the military. I mean, that was never even in my plans, let alone to be a rotary wing aviator. I mean, it just never crossed my mind. And I'll tell you, I distinctly remember thinking, when I was putting this packet in, You're probably not going to get picked up, but at least this is a good story to tell your kids when they try out for like Little League and they don't make the team, that hey, at least you tried, because now you know. And so when they called, that really was my first thought. I was like, oh, ship, get smart, hurry up. But when I the first time I set in a black Hawk, I remember just looking around me and thinking, there's nowhere they didn't put a switch or a button or a lever, and how am I ever going to get all this down? It was overwhelming. Yes, it absolutely is. I had a little pilot experienced myself when I started in the Marine Corps, so I fully appreciate what you're describing and what you're talking about, and it is a daunting task. And I do appreciate what you're saying to about trying going for something and whether it happens or doesn't happen, it's the fact that you through your head in the ring and said I'm willing to give it a shot. And then when they call your bluff, it's another thing because then you're like, oh, crap, I gotta get smart like you just said, or I better figure this out, or I guess I'm in this now. But it's kind of a wonderful thing too, because it brings out your best. Usually you find that your whatever you your thought your limits were, they weren't there. They were way above and that's great for growth for personal growth. I think, Yeah, I think a place that I have lived in consistently is a place of impostor syndrome and just constantly being around all of these greats and just thinking what am I doing among these people? And it's a matter of time before I'm found out. And so I remember going through flight school and I kept a notebook of whenever the i P or the instructor would say, like, you got that I was at the North and South, Yeah, I got it, I got it, and I'd write it down. They probably thought I was taking notes and I was on all the ship I didn't understand. We have a library on Fort Rutger that's just for flight school students, and some old, well seasoned aviators work in that library. So I would take my notebook with me there every single night, and I would set with those old guys and I would man, I'd tell me, I need you to tell me about this, because I definitely said I understood, I don't am I I P is gonna ask me about it tomorrow. Get me smart tonight. That's so smart, though, and that's so true. I obviously I served two and my answer was always yes, sir, yes, ma'am got it. Absolutely locked and loaded. I'm moving out right now to go take care of that. And I would go run around the halls going what does this mean? What does this mean? What do I do? You know you're looking for answers anywhere, but the answers always yes, I got it, I got it. And then you then you go find it somehow. You find somebody smart, or find somebody has a clue, and you start doing your detective work. But I do love the fact that you took the time to find your way through it. You didn't take anything for granted. You found that resource. I heard you say earlier. I want to go back for one second. You know, when I joined it, you know, it didn't feel like it was for the most patriotic reasons or whatever. It felt like it was more business and more practical. But that is that. That's life, you know. It is a little bit of patriotism. Otherwise you would have come up with other options, but it is practical. Over your time of service and through the growth professionally and probably personally that you've gone through in the military, maybe that outlook has changed a little bit. I don't know. You tell us, yeah, I mean, you know, when I think about it. I think probably the best analogy is like you don't meet your significant other because you bet they have a great personality, you know, I mean they're good looking, and the the same goes for the army. Yeah. I didn't join for probably the most patriotic reasons, but I will tell you that it has, you know, over the course of these last two decades, absolutely changed who I am at the core of myself. No other generation of members of the military have been in too full scale conflicts literally for two decades consecutively. So there were many times where it was coming back from a deployment and waiting sometimes twelve months to the day before we were off again. For a lot of us, that was our life for a good portion of our careers, was just going back. And there was a point where I felt like I knew how to fly better in Afghanistan. I mean without a map, I felt like I could have flown you around that country. I was just there so much. But it truly becomes a part of your identity, you know. Now I'm I'm a wife and a mom and I remember, I mean this just happened, my daughter telling me that she didn't want to go to school and I could not help but think back to when we had assisted in UH building a school for these little girls in Afghanistan, and the Taliban had come in two days after we opened it and poisoned their water and killed them all, and so things like that. I mean, that absolutely impacts how I parent, because I definitely let Gabby Ryan know that, you know, in our house, you're gonna be grateful to go to school, You're gonna be happy. You've got running water in there, You've got great teachers, you have a whole building over your head. There's so much to be grateful for. And I don't ever want her to take that for granted, because the bottom line is eight of the world doesn't live like we do, and I just don't want her to ever forget how fortunate she is to be here. So I would have to say that my experience over the last two decades of absolutely I got the degree. I got two of them. H nice. But who I am is greatly largely in part to the experiences and the people I've met in the military. I think for people who have seen firsthand what tyranny looks like or injustice, it's something you never forget and you never take for granted. And so I have kids too, so I hear you. When I try to explain to them just how precious what we have and how valuable it is, and they want to get a Starbucks, I'm like, did you even hear what I just said? You know, it's crazy. On Natasha's first deployment to Afghanistan, she was part of a female Engagement team. These specific teams of women's service members work with special operations forces, similar affairs and intelligence teams. Their mission to help open up lines of communication and local villages. Male soldiers were often seen as threatening. Had engagement teams with women like Natasha's had the potential to build rapport with the Afghan women, and that was often critical it's admission success. There was a time we went to this women's hospital and we were told there was a portion of our training where it was like we were shown pictures that were of essentially women that would have been like disfigured somewhat, and you had to practice just keeping like a straight face when you saw this stuff, because when she realized you could speak dor, she'd get a little bit more comfortable with you, and they were really comfortable with you. They would take their book off, and sometimes you just didn't know what was going to be under there. We definitely we saw things like um saying there was a man without honor as a man without a nose. So when some of these really young girls would run away from you know, what was their sixty year old husband that they've been married to, and they would capture them again, they would cut their noses off. So you just had to really practice. She'd take that broke off, and you just have to brace for impact because it might be an eye gouged out, it might be an ear cut off. One woman, her son kept speaking for her and I couldn't figure out why, and I realized eventually that she had her tongue cut out. And the perspective that you get when you get into these situations is I'll never be I'll never be the same, and I'm so grateful for that, absolutely, And somebody has to tell that story. Somebody has to tell those stories because I think people back home have no concept of the tyranny and the terror that people live under every day. Veterans you should know will return after the break, Welcome back to veterans you should know in the army. I believe women make up about I could be off on that, but those are the numbers that I heard women make about of the army going down that funnel. It's even less in the aviation community. Oh yeah, Do you feel like you are a mentor two young women out there that want to be pilots? Do you feel that responsibility or do you feel eyes upon you? We tiptoe around it so much, and I really think that women really just want to be the same as you know, no special considerations. I think as far as the mentorship goes, there were not a lot of higher ranking women when I was coming up, and so I feel like at this juncture it's important for me to stick around and important for me to make sure that not just the young women, but it's normalized for the young men also, and that we can be a mom and a wife. You can have a family and continue to do this job. It doesn't have to detract from your capabilities in the cockpit or or wherever they're doing the job. But I think the important thing is for women, did just realize that we're absolutely capable, competent able to do this and we should be there. I agree? I agree. Do you think the opportunities are there, you know, like I said, when I was coming up, nobody said, hey, girl, there's this really cool crew chief job, or you could do a program called high school to flight school. Nobody mentioned any really cool jobs like that. And when you think about joining the military, you don't think about processing some cool guys pay problems. You know, you think about going and doing a really cool army job. I think I wasn't any different, and then going to do an administrative job was a little bit of a letdown. But that doesn't have to be the end. You know, that doesn't have to be where you stop. You've got to continue to push forward and look for those opportunities. They're there. They might not be offered up to you, but they are there, and you can. You have to go seek those out. In all opportunities and occupations in the military were open to women for the first time. We are still seeing many first because of that. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery is a sacred memorial in resting place for unidentified service members who perished in war. A guard from the Army's third U S Infantry Regiment, also known as the Old Guard, stands watch over the unknown soldier at all times. This fall, for the first time in history, the tomb had its first all female changing up the guard. When I saw that image, it was incredibly powerful to me. I mean, I think that is for sure in our military, guarding the tomb is just absolutely one of the highest honors that there is. And too for the first time ever, get to see that there were three women doing it was, you know, like I said, an incredibly powerful image. I know it resonates to me being in the military, but I think the important thing is for the generations to come seeing that, and not just the women, not just the young women, but the male population as well, to start normalizing that and viewing that women's contribution can be just as equal to a male's and and a lot of different occupations. So I think there is a standard to be met, and just like there is for the soldiers that guard the him, there's some strict standards that have to be met, and if that individual male, female, black, white, whatever it may be, if they have met those standards, let them have the job. I couldn't agree more. I think if you meet the standards, there should be no limits on anything. It's all about meeting the standards. You are a woman, and you are a leader, and you are a soldier. These are all facts. They're not in dispute. So let's talk about that, Like, do you see progress? Are you feeling like there is progress with regard to women in the army and the military in general. Absolutely, And I think the fantastic thing is that women are aggressively seeking it. And I think we are up to eighty four women that have been through ranger school and we just had a woman lead, a woman ranger lead in combat, and I think that those things are incredible, and I'm so excited that for my daughter, those aren't going to be first, you know, and that happens for her and her later years. It's not going to be a first. It's going to be normal. You said you have a daughter. You mentioned your daughter. What do you want her to know about your service? If she could have one takeaway that she gets to put in her hip pocket for the rest of her life, what would what would you want that to be. I've thought about that a lot, actually, you know, and I think that this is probably a thought that crosses anyone's mind who has I guess as far as the military goes anyone that has some rank about them, or has held a position of high authority, or had a really illustrious career. You worry that are your kids going to feel like they're always kind of standing in your shadow? Are they going to feel like they have to live up to what you did? I wanted to give everything to whatever she decides to do and know that she is very loved and very supported. I had a mom that just really never made me feel like there wasn't anywhere that I There was no where I didn't belong, so I never knew that there were places I probably wasn't welcome, and so I just walked in the door like I was supposed to be there, and I felt like the people that thought I shouldn't be were the ones with the problem. Just try, you know, I mean I tried and I got picked up, you know, So whatever it is, just jump in. Because failure is an integral part of success. You cannot have one without the other. And I've failed a lot more times than I ever succeeded. True words were never spoken when I started in acting in comedy. I failed so many times and they were all just flaming disasters. And yet if you stick with it, things can happen. So I totally agree with you on that. You also have a husband who I believe was a marine, which I'm sure that is a never ending source of frustration for you to hear his marine pride every day. Now he's out of the service, right now, he is out right, he's already in civilian as. He grown his beard and his hair and his hippie now he has wait, well, i'll tell you this. Robbie still gets his haircut on a military base, but he definitely has a tamed out beard. But yeah, it's tough, man. I have to hide the crayons all the time. It's hard when you got a five year old and they're fighting over crayons to eat. But now he's a great guy. We met on my last tour to Afghanistan, so you know, it was super scandalous and he was a contractor when I met him over there. He had just gotten out the Marine Corps, came over to do some private security contracting, and man, he was relentless. It was really like, you're going to marry me? Pretty much, I'm not gonna leave you alone and tell you marry me. Marina admission is a dangerous thing, is it? Is it ever? Yeah, So came back to Texas with me and really it's just been an adventure. From there. We then PCs to Germany and went all over Europe. Fantastic. Yeah, he's a great dude. He's an accountant now, believe it or not. And if you ever saw Chris, he still looks very much like a marine. Still very much in great shape, super handsome man, and he crunches numbers for a living and loves it and it is really good at it. Wow, I I it's so hard to visualize a marine putting himself in a cubicle with numbers all day. Military people speaking acronyms PCs. You mentioned that, you know, you and your husband PCs throughout Europe. Can you please just let the people know what PCs means. Yeah, it's a permanent change of station. Now that means you went to Europe and we're stationed there and then probably got to move around Europe a little bit and in the in that process, got to travel all through Europe. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah, that's what That's what the recruiter promised. And you're probably the only person that they ever delivered for on a promise like that. Oh yeah, it was a great time. I mean any time that we had time off, we would jump on a Ryan Air flight for like twenty bucks and we would be gone and some completely different culture, completely different food architecture. We kept a really cool scrap book too, so that Gabby can look back on those memories. I mean, we took her all over Morocco, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland. Those are all those places I want to go to, all those places. Those are places sound amazing and brought to you by the United States Army. So I guess you know that is one of those little you know, they make a lot of promises in the recruiting office and very few payoffs, so that one clearly paid off for you, which is great. Sure did Sure did so, Natasha. A little Bertie told me that you are thinking about retiring soon. One is that correct? And two? If so, what are you looking forward to in civilian life? Yeah? So I got probably roughly to three more years left. You know, coming down to the end is definitely bitter sweet. You look forward to retirement and then it comes and you're like, man, how am I going to keep in touch? With all my friends. What am I going to miss out on a lot of fomo there? But I have definitely pondered teaching after I get out. I think you're almost remiss to have all of these worldly opportunities, and really, you know, like we were a small piece of history, you know, things that are going to go into these kids history books, and we weren't there, you know. And you talk about the military being one person of the population, and we are the one percent that was actually their boots on ground, smelled it, saw it, tasted, it hurt it. So I think the opportunity to give some of those first hand accounts are important. And then you know, like we had talked about earlier, the appreciation for what education holds, especially for demographics around the world that literally going to school is a fight for your life. Maybe absolutely, I love that. I think teaching is very noble. My mother was a teacher for thirty in years. I've actually thought about that too, to be honest with you, because I do agree with everything you just said. I think with the the experience and the knowledge that you have, you would almost be remiss not to somehow give that back with the wisdom that came along with that. Now, your husband, I have to do that every time the marine. Now he's been a civilian for a while. How has that helped you? I mean, you're you're about to leave twenty plus years, whatever you end up doing. Have you seen your husband in civilian life and his path and his experiences and his does that help in any way? Does that help shape what you're thinking? Yeah, Rob here reminds me anytime he sees me, like get up for something at at five or six o'clock in the morning, he makes sure to let me know, just quietly out here in the darkness. I don't miss that, you know. So I I know that he's definitely happy in the civilian world. I'm anxious, you know, because there's a certain way that we communicate with each other in the military, and it's usually very direct. I don't know how that translates into the civilian world. You know, you don't want to go into school like a drill instructor. But at the same time, I feel like my class would be very orderly and disciplined, and so I don't know, I might have to pick a whole different profession. I might have to you know what, I might have to go back to the mail. I might have to go back to walking the mail solitary with my dog, mace and headphones on. That might be what I have to do. No, I'm with you. As military people. We we cut through the bs and we get right to the point because we don't have time for the polish and the pleasant trees, and it's just business. Let's just get to business. Here's what you do, here's what I do. I trust you to do what you do. I trust me to do what I do. Let's work together, let's get the thing done. And out there in civilian land there's a lot more bs and polish. It's exhausting, and we come off as terse sometimes because we're just like, okay, let's just cut to the quick. I hear you. That is a little bit of a difference. I would say, could You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Your class of love you for it. You really have had an amazing career and one that I hope people aspired to because you do have this wonderful journey where you took advantage of all your opportunities and you made the most of them. You made it happen for yourself. You were the captain of your own ship and you did it, which to me is what this whole life is about. If people are thinking about joining the military, what would be your advice, what would be your nugget of wisdom that you can pass on after your journey that you've been through. Gosh, there's so much, you know. That's a tough question because it's wide open ended. It is, and I think the best advice that I could give them is these are probably going to be some of the most at least for me, especially flying the Metavact mission. These were for sure the most honorable days of my life. I don't think that there is something better that I could even think to do. So it's gonna have its moments that are incredibly fulfilling, and like any other job, you're going to have, you know, people you work with that you don't like, maybe hours you work that you you don't appreciate, and bosses you don't like. I mean, the good news in the military is are going to change out every two years to just hang on, but you're gonna get to go to some pretty amazing places that you may not have otherwise. You will for sure meet people that you would not have sat down and had conversations with otherwise, and you're gonna make some of the best friends of your life. Friendships that you know, you don't see that person for five years, and when you get back together, you pick up right where you left off. It's incredible. If I could get a certification, if I could get a degree I did. The Army used to have a saying back in the day of be all you can be, and I really try to take that to heart. I think I came from an environment where statistically I probably shouldn't have six in it. My dad wasn't like a West Pointer nobody and my family had gone to college at that point. Yeah, there was no reason that I should be where I am today. But I really think that at the end of the day, those decisions. You know, life's about choices, so you really got to choose wisely, and it is up to you. You can work at the post office and put a flight packet in and go fly helicopters. You know, you can go from driving around a fifteen pack van with mail in it to find a two million dollar aircraft. It's definitely up to you. I know, specifically, like you just said, some people feel like I've heard infection and say, well, you know, I don't understand how to get anything done on trust me that post nine eleven g I Bill. If you don't take advantage of that, you are missing the opportunity of a lifetime. It can change your life, it can change the trajectory of what you want to do with your life. Just give it a shot, find out how to make it happen, because it's worth it anyway. Natasha, I can't thank you enough for being here today and sharing your story with us and inspiring me and hopefully inspiring anybody who heard you today, because I think you are what it means to join the military and just carve out a path for yourself and something that everybody, including yourself, can be proud of. So thank you. Thanks for being with us today. Thank you, Rob, I really appreciate it. Thanks so much to Natasha for joining us and sharing her incredible words of wisdom. I know you're going to go on and do great things in retirements. You are an incredible role model, not only to your daughter, but to really anybody who meets you. Thanks for listening to veterans. You should know to hear more inspiring stories of perseverance and camaraderie. Check out all our episodes, including those from season one, featuring veterans who have overcome incredible obstacles and found renewed purpose in their civilian lives. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review the podcast. We would love to hear from you. You can listen to the show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. Veterans you Should Know as a special four parts series from I Heart Radio and hosted by me Rob Wriggle. Our show is written and produced by Molly Soscha, Nikia Swinton, and Jackie Perez, with assistance from Quincy Fuller. The show is edited, sound designed, and mixed by James Foster and Matt Stilla.