From left to right, Staff Sgt. Josie E. Harshe, flight engineer; Capt. Anita T. Mack, navigator; 1st Lt. Siobhan Couturier, pilot; Capt. Carol J. Mitchell, aircraft commander; and loadmasters Tech. Sgt. Sigrid M. Carrero-Perez and Senior Airman Ci Ci Alonzo, pause in the cargo bay of their Lockheed C-130 Hercules for a group photo following their historic flight. A crew of six Airmen at a forward deployed location climbed aboard a Lockheed C-130 Hercules together recently for the first time in their careers. But something distinguished this mission from others they had flown --it was the first time an all-female C-130 crew flew a combat mission. The women were all permanently assigned to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/43rd_Airlift_Wing" class="extiw" title="w:43rd Airlift Wing">43rd Airlift Wing</a> at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Air_Force_Base" class="extiw" title="w:Pope Air Force Base">Pope Air Force Base</a>, North Carolina (USA), and were deployed to the 737th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron flying cargo and troops in and out of Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa.
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Master Sergeant Alfred A. Gerloff Jr., <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force" title="United States Air Force">United States Air Force</a></div>
27 September 2005
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/133231/all-female-combat-crew-takes-it-in-stride/">All-female combat crew takes it in stride</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://media.defense.gov/2005/Sep/26/2000578672/780/780/0/050923-F-9999R-001.JPG">image</a>