It’s Pilot Jennifer Grieves’ Accomplishment, Not the President’s
July 20, 2009
by Judy Silver
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Pilot Major Jennifer L. Grieves of Glendale, AZ (left); with copilot Maj. Jennifer. L Marino of Palisade, CO; and crew chief Sgt. Rachael A. Sherman of Traverse City, MI.
The ABC Headline reads:
President Obama’s Historic First Female Helicopter Pilot
Huh? Jennifer Grieves became the first female pilot of Marine One (the helicopter that transports the president) in May of 2008, initially serving President Bush. Since Grieves’ shattering of what ABC called the “glass rotors” pre-dates President Obama’s election, and since as far as I can tell Obama had nothing to do with her accomplishment, why does he get the lead in the headline? The story should be the woman who is accomplishing, not the man receiving the benefits of that accomplishment.
Grieves is in the news again because in celebration of the end of her time as a Marine One pilot, she was assigned an all female crew. Here’s the AP report:
Major Jennifer Grieves story on your site leads us to wonder how she got to even fly in the military. If it wasn’t for the persistent women in the 1970s who after much resistance got hired to fly commercial and corporate aircraft, women would not have been accepted into the military as pilots. Flying Above the Glass Ceiling is a new book that tells their stories. It written by a pioneer woman corporate jet pilot, Nina Anderson who lived through the times when it was thought that women belonged in the kitchen and only men could fly passengers. It would be a good follow up to cover the stories of these original women airline and corporate pilots – before this book their stories were a missing link in aviation and women’s lib history.
http://www.safegoodspub.com/womanpilotbook.html
Hello, ……. My name is Don Gartner, from Norfolk, Nebraska. As about 12 different Country & Rock N Roll bands from years ago, prepare to perform at ‘Nebraska Rocks’ this weekend, I was asked last evening if I remember a Sax player with one of our bands from the 60′s by the name of Leland Grieves. I said ‘Sure I did’ and he then said that Leland’s daughter, (Jennifer) sits in the left set of ‘Marine One’ that flies our President from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base. He asked me to see if I could verify that information. Can you help me out???
Thanks a lot and looking forward to hearing from you!!
Don Gartner / Norfolk, Nebraska
It is a wonderful helicopter…quite the workhorse…well done to the Major.
Semper Fi
Response to Don Gartner:
Yes Leland Grieves was in a band and played the sax. Yes he is Major Jennifer Grieves father. I am his other daughter Kim. He now lives in Glendale, AZ.
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