As America honors those who have served in the Armed Forces, both living and deceased, former U.S. Air Force (USAF) flight lieutenant Graciela Tiscareño-Sato offers an important reminder. “When you celebrate veterans, remember that women, Latinas, and mothers are veterans, too,” she said.
Graciela Tiscareño-Sato is a highly decorated U.S. Air Force veteran, recognized as the first Latina aviator to receive the Air Medal for combat air operations. She served as navigator on a KC-135, an American military aerial refueling tanker, and was an instructor in the U.S. Air Force for a decade.
In addition to her military achievements, she is the author of a series of award-winning bilingual children’s books, “Captain Mama,” which she was inspired to write following her service.
Tiscareño-Sato, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, is a graduate of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) college program. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental design and architecture from UC Berkeley and a master’s degree in International Management from Whitworth University while on active duty. Furthermore, she is a sought-after keynote speaker on topics such as veterans’ affairs, Hispanic heritage, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education.
The Image of a Veteran
While women have gained a presence in the military, especially in recent decades and nearly in all roles, Tiscareño-Sato noted that they had been glaringly absent for many years from events featuring service members and veterans, including activities in schools. “The typical Veterans Day celebration in the school is the kindergarten teacher who has a husband who served in Vietnam,” said the ex-USAF pilot, “so the teacher tells him to come to the school, and then he brings three of his friends, and then the kids only think that veterans are all the white guys who served in Vietnam.”
Added the mother of three, “That’s how I saw it through my children’s schooling until I arrived.”
She’s been changing perceptions ever since.
Tiscareño-Sato, originally from El Paso and currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, travels across the country to share her story at air shows, schools, and libraries in both English and Spanish. She often visits Southern California, giving presentations at various locations, including Pasadena, Burbank, and Oxnard.
A Celebration of Women’s Achievements
Veterans Day is also an opportunity each year to recognize the milestones and accomplishments of women in the service, said Tiscareño-Sato. “Let’s celebrate that women have the choice to serve in all roles for which they are qualified and want to serve,” she said. “All the restrictions that once kept women out of combat roles and prevented them from serving wherever they were qualified have been eliminated over the past 40 years.”
Tiscareño-Sato makes a valid point. The days when women were primarily restricted to support and administrative roles are long gone. Today, women serve as infantry officers, enlisted personnel, tank and other armored vehicle operators, artillery specialists, combat engineers, and members of special operations forces. They have also made significant strides as pilots and, more recently, in submarine crews, with new submarines designed to foster gender integration.
Moreover, women have taken on high-level leadership roles, including that of the first female Chief of Naval Operations. Female officers have successfully commanded ships, submarines, and various ground units, and many have completed some of the military’s most challenging training programs.
Many of those roles became available to women as a result of a groundbreaking policy change by the Department of Defense in 2015 that lifted all gender-based restrictions on combat roles.
“Women are literally everywhere today, and that makes me so happy, you know, having seen the changes,” she said.
Outnumbered by Men
But while the door has been opened for women in the military, they still have to navigate military branches populated by some who still question and oppose women’s inclusion, Tiscareño-Sato acknowledged. “I think probably the main issue facing women right now is, and has always been, that when you’re in the military, you are surrounded by men all the time. We are always outnumbered.”
The key for women to advance is to surround themselves with supportive people, according to the Air Force veteran. “Ask yourself, ‘Who are my allies in this unit? Which of these guys really wants to see me succeed?” she said. “Understanding who your allies are is essential because there’s going to be others who are exactly the opposite of that.”
Criticism of Military Leadership
Another significant challenge women in the military face is the leadership and political climate in Washington, D.C.
“Our Secretary of Defense (Pete Hegseth) is trying to imply that he doesn’t want women in the military… he doesn’t want women in combat roles.”
Tiscareño-Sato said that women cannot defend themselves because of the military culture itself. “As members of the military, we are required by the Uniform Code of Military Justice to remain apolitical,” she explained. “So, you really have to bite your tongue all the time.” She added, “But you know what? This has always been the case, in one way or another, for all of us who have served at any time. There has always been some commentary somewhere that suggested women shouldn’t be there.”
However, Tiscareño-Sato has a warning for the current political leadership that doesn’t support military women. “There is no military readiness without women,” she stated, noting that females account for 22 percent of the USAF.
Tiscareño-Sato encouraged military women not to give up their careers in the Armed Forces. “Again, without women, there is no military readiness. And that means they don’t have to quit. Otherwise, then women would be satisfying those people trying to push them out.”
Instead, women can promote change from within. “It starts with them understanding the power that they have to effect that change. So absolutely do not quit; absolutely do not get out.”
What an uplifting story.