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杰出校友：飞行员帕特里夏·韦伯从未动摇过她对天空的追求
2021年9月3日
Many young girls growing up in Patricia Webb’s tiny Michigan farm town in the 1960s dreamed of becoming teachers or nurses. 年轻的帕蒂想成为一名宇航员。
“But my mother told me that girls couldn’t be astronauts,” said Webb, who became mesmerized by the idea of flying in 1962, the year John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. “She said I could be a flight attendant.”
Instead, Webb set her sights on earning her pilot’s license. 她在21岁时就这样做了，这是她令人印象深刻的职业生涯的第一步，她打破了障碍，为无数追随她道路的女性铺平了道路。 For her accomplishments, Webb is the recipient of a 2021 Distinguished Service Award as part of the 萨克拉门托 State 校友会’s 杰出校友奖s.
When Webb received her pilot’s license, opportunities were limited for female aviators, especially women like her who wanted to be fighter pilots. 韦伯以情报专家的身份加入空军，是第一批进入飞行学校的女性之一。 在那个时候，配额制度很重要，她厌倦了等待女性飞行员的职位空缺，所以她接受了一份空军领航员的工作。
“I loved it, and I was very good at it, but I didn’t understand why men were allowed to do things that I wasn’t allowed to do” even though she was equally qualified, she said. “It didn’t make sense. I was raised on a farm, and there weren’t ‘boy jobs’ and ‘girl jobs.’ Everybody did everything.”
韦伯作为一名领航员周游世界，执行加油和侦察任务，在海湾战争期间执行战术任务，并在索马里执行人道主义救援任务。 她从空中灭火，从飞机上空投伞兵。
In 1989, during a stint as a flight instructor at Mather Air Force Base near 萨克拉门托, Webb earned her master’s degree in International Affairs at 囊状态.
“I wanted a real academic environment with lots of other students pursuing different paths,” Webb said. “I already had an undergraduate degree in liberal arts from Kalamazoo College in Michigan, and 囊状态 had a good Master’s program in International Affairs. We had international instructors, and the whole class had experience living overseas.”
1996年，韦伯退出现役，加入空军预备役。 At the same time, she began working for Science Applications International Corporation in the company’s technology unit, supporting national security and intelligence operations.
韦伯从军33年，2011年以上校身份退役。 此后，她一直担任总统内阁成员和国会议员的反恐顾问，并在马里兰州的联邦特许研究型大学国家情报大学（National Intelligence University）教授反恐和秘密行动课程。
“Her contribution as a trailblazer for future generations of women aviators rises to the top” of her résumé, said Kelly Siefkin, director of development for the 囊状态 校友会. “Col. Webb trained and flew alongside women during a critical time in our nation’s history where she exemplified the truest expression of equal opportunity.”
In recent years, women have managed to crash through the military’s glass ceiling, Webb said.
“We’ve proven our worth as aviators, and women get a pretty equal shot today,” she said.
退休后，韦布继续飞行消遣。 At home in Virginia, she occasionally takes to the skies in a friend’s private plane.
“It’s just enormous fun to do basic flying,” without the aid of modern technology, she said.
作为海岸警卫队辅助部队的一员，她参与了救援和巡逻，无论是乘船还是乘飞机。 Webb also has been involved with an international group investigating pioneer aviator Amelia Earhart’s disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.
“She’s always been intriguing to me,” Webb said of Earhart. “The fact that her disappearance is still unsolved keeps people interested.”
Webb’s advice to current and future 囊状态 students? 永远不要拒绝学习新东西的机会。
“Throughout my patchwork career, I took advantage of what was in front of me,” she said. “Every job I had yielded more opportunities that I never knew existed.”
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