run with the men, who had to run in less than 12 minutes. The training included classes on the history of the USAF and the theory of flight, a ride in a Fairchild C-123 Provider and a flight in a Cessna T-37 Tweet with an instructor. She took flying lessons in a Cessna 150 at Elmira Corning Regional Airport, eventually flying solo, but did not have time to complete all the requirements for a private pilot license. In January 1978, Collins received orders to report to Offutt Air Force Base upon graduation from Syracuse, to become a computer systems engineer. Before this could occur, the Syracuse AFROTC commander, Colonel Vernon Hagen, informed her that the USAF was now accepting up to ten women from AFROTC programs for pilot training; the first ten women graduated on 2 September 1977. He offered to put her name forward. Collins eagerly accepted the offer, but a physical examination at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base revealed that although she had 20/20 visual acuity in her right eye, she had only 20/25 in the left, leading to her being rejected. Hagen told her to rest her eyes, and ordered a re-test, which she passed. She graduated later that year with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics and economics. Air Force career Upon graduation from Syracuse, Collins was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the USAF. She received orders to report to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for the Flight Screening Program (FSP) In August 1978. She was one of four women in the class; there were ten men. The purpose of the FSP was to screen out unsuitable pilots before sending them to the more expensive Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) program. Collins was almost eliminated on medical grounds due to her left eye and a suspected heart murmur, but was cleared to fly. Training flights were conducted from nearby Hondo Municipal Airport in Cessna T-41 Mescalero aircraft. For her UPT, Collins requested that she be assigned to Williams Air Force Base in Arizona, where the first ten women had trained, but the USAF personnel office decided to send her to Vance Air Force Base in Enid, Oklahoma. There were three other women in her class, 79–08. She decorated her helmet with the logo E = mc2, an allusion to both her initials and Albert Einstein's mass–energy equivalence equation. Flight training was conducted in the