MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- This is Captain Alyssa Ford! She is one of two squadron weapons officers and her specific job is overseeing training for the entire 742nd Missile Squadron. She helps manage a shop of 6 instructors who give missile simulation rides to crew members, track trends, and develop supplemental training products for crew members. She has been here since 2015 and She absolutely loves it!
Capt. Ford believes International Women’s Day is a day to reflect on the achievements of the trailblazing women that came before her. This may sound corny, however, specifically to her, it is a day she gets to take alert with all of the women in the 91st Operations Group and it feels awesome knowing that there are enough women who can pull nuclear alert. It didn’t used to be that way, when ICBMs and alert duty came to fruition, women were not able to pull alert duties. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that women were able to pull alert and take part in this unique mission; so she feels very fortunate to have the ability to pull alert.
Capt. Ford also feels very fortunate that her current shop has four women in it (not including her!). She gets to work with some extremely high caliber people who push her to do better each and every day! This might be a hot-take, but she doesn’t particularly like the question of “what does being a woman in my career field mean to me”, because to her, her job is her job and what she does for her career field is not defined by her gender. She knows her gender does not define what her limits are in this career field, nor make it easier or harder to operate in her environment.
However, Capt. Ford notes that some very amazing women have come before her and she constantly look up to them, they are: Captain Erica Weitgenant, Captain Kate Grimley, Captain Carolyn Hockaday, Captain Emily Gill, Major Traci Davis, Major Liz Neary, General Stacy Jo Huser. Capt. Ford expresses that she is very lucky- some of them don’t probably know that they made this list, but she admires every single one of these women and they have been integral to her development as an officer and a human being. All of them have given her guidance and been a part of her two major accomplishments in her career, which are: competing in Global Strike Challenge in 2017, and winning the McAdoo Trophy for Best Weapon System Score, as well as graduating Weapons School- as a part of Class 20A- last year. She is extremely humbled and grateful for where she is in her Air Force career as well as life. She couldn’t do it without those other awesome ladies!