Being out front was something regular for Martha; she was selected for the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1984 and quickly requested to train as a fighter pilot in flight school. Even after her instructor laughed at the idea, she continued her interest. When Congress repealed the ban of women fighter pilots in 1991, she was one of the first seven to be picked.

In 1993, she was selected for fighter pilot school, but had to wait a year before arriving. Once she finished her training, she was deployed to Kuwait to enforce a no-fly zone over the Kuwait⁄Iraq border. She stated, ‘‘I’ll never forget the feeling I had that I had asked for this and now I was here.”

She took command of the 354th Fighter Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., in July 2004, making her the first female to command a fighter squadron. During her time there, she flew one of her most memorable missions, which was also the first time she’d deployed weapons in combat. Her squadron was called to take out insurgents in Afghanistan. Going in, there was trouble identifying the allies from the enemies. Then, Lt. Col. McSally noticed that the friendlies were not climbing up the canyons to get away from the enemy. After shooting rockets to determine the enemy location, her group was able to hone in on the enemy target.

In 2005, her squadron won the Air Force Association’s David C. Shilling award for giving the best aerospace contribution to national defense. During her squadron’s time in Afghanistan, they flew just short of 2,000 sorties, accumulated more than 7,000 combat flight hours and expended more than 23,000 rounds of 30mm ammunition.

Her contributions to the U.S. Air Force are numerous. She is the first female fighter pilot, the first female to command a fighter squadron, and has set an example of the limitless expectations of all female pilots to follow. She stated, ‘‘I hope I’m a role model to both men and women because we are a fighting force and should not be concerned with differences between us.”