Sharon Preszler was hand-picked as one member of the initial cadre of women fighter pilots in the United States Air Force. She was the first woman to fly the F-16 (a single-seat, single-engine fighter) and the first woman to fly combat missions and instruct in the F-16. She has over 1300 hours in the F-16, including over 50 combat hours in Iraq and one ejection due to electrical failure. In her 20+ years of service in the US Air Force, she was also a navigator, piloted a Lear Jet, and spent time in North American Aerospace Defense Command, writing our homeland defense plans after the terrorist attacks on 9/11 – plans that are still in use today. After retiring from the Air Force, Sharon Preszler went to work for Southwest Airlines, where she flew over 9,000 hours in a Boeing-737 and recently retired as a Captain from Southwest Airlines. Sharon Preszler, #YouveGotMettle --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/mettle-of-honor/message