WEBVTT 00:51.279 --> 00:53.446 My name is K Daly . I joined the South 00:53.446 --> 00:55.446 Carolina National Guard and now I'm 00:55.446 --> 00:57.557 going to flight school . I joined the 00:57.557 --> 00:59.723 South Carolina National Guard in hopes 00:59.723 --> 01:01.835 of pursuing my dream to become a army 01:01.835 --> 01:04.180 aviator . I wanted to become a pilot 01:04.540 --> 01:06.819 just from a young age . Uh Aviation's 01:06.830 --> 01:10.019 always interested me and for a long 01:10.029 --> 01:12.029 time , I didn't pursue it because I 01:12.029 --> 01:15.019 didn't know it was possible . Uh The 01:15.029 --> 01:16.973 National Guard kind of gave me the 01:16.973 --> 01:19.650 opportunity to prove to me that no 01:19.660 --> 01:22.059 matter the age , it was possible 01:22.309 --> 01:25.500 growing up . Uh my dad was in the 01:25.510 --> 01:27.830 military before I was born , so he 01:27.839 --> 01:29.728 didn't really talk much about his 01:29.728 --> 01:31.672 military career . He's always very 01:31.672 --> 01:33.860 quiet about it . But I knew from the 01:33.870 --> 01:35.814 start that my dad was a great role 01:35.814 --> 01:37.981 model and I knew that the army kind of 01:37.981 --> 01:40.092 shaped him that way . So I was always 01:40.092 --> 01:42.314 interested in the military . I love the 01:42.314 --> 01:44.426 aspect of the team that comes with it 01:44.426 --> 01:46.148 and the family you get from it 01:46.148 --> 01:48.259 throughout high school . As I started 01:48.259 --> 01:50.092 to realize and many other people 01:50.092 --> 01:52.989 started to realize D one soccer was 01:53.000 --> 01:55.610 definitely a big opportunity for me and 01:55.620 --> 01:57.842 it was something I could do to get free 01:57.842 --> 02:00.064 college and the full ride scholarship I 02:00.064 --> 02:02.287 was offered , I knew that it would only 02:02.287 --> 02:04.509 take me so far in life . Past college , 02:05.169 --> 02:07.447 I was only going to college for soccer . 02:07.447 --> 02:09.669 It wasn't , oh , I wanna get a business 02:09.669 --> 02:11.558 degree or I wanna get a degree in 02:11.558 --> 02:13.780 nursing . It was , I just want to go to 02:13.780 --> 02:15.836 college because I wanna keep playing 02:15.836 --> 02:18.002 soccer . So that's when I decided that 02:18.002 --> 02:20.058 I wanted to pursue my other dream of 02:20.058 --> 02:22.309 aviation and pursued that uh by going 02:22.320 --> 02:25.199 to flight school . On the civilian side , 02:25.210 --> 02:27.910 I decided to fly Rotary Ring rather 02:27.919 --> 02:31.479 than Fix Wing because of the constant 02:31.490 --> 02:33.850 having to be on the controls . With fix 02:33.860 --> 02:36.027 wing . I realized takeoff and landings 02:36.027 --> 02:38.050 were a lot of fun . But once you're 02:38.059 --> 02:40.226 straight and level in the sky , you're 02:40.226 --> 02:42.281 kind of just monitoring the controls 02:42.281 --> 02:44.170 and push a few buttons . But with 02:44.170 --> 02:46.226 helicopters , both feet , both hands 02:46.226 --> 02:48.449 are always doing something . And the 02:48.460 --> 02:50.627 situational awareness you have to have 02:50.627 --> 02:52.793 with the helicopter is a lot more than 02:52.793 --> 02:55.240 with thick swing . At first , my family 02:55.250 --> 02:58.300 was kind of nervous for me for joining 02:58.309 --> 03:00.531 the South Carolina National Guard . But 03:00.531 --> 03:03.070 now that they seen the support system I 03:03.080 --> 03:05.247 get from the Guard and the people I've 03:05.247 --> 03:07.024 met through the Guard , they're 03:07.024 --> 03:09.210 extremely supportive of it and really 03:09.220 --> 03:11.699 excited for me only being in the 03:11.710 --> 03:14.059 military for a year and having the 03:14.070 --> 03:16.100 opportunity to go to one officer 03:16.110 --> 03:18.166 candidate school and going to flight 03:18.166 --> 03:21.500 school . I feel like tremendously 03:21.509 --> 03:23.731 grateful for the Guard . Uh It's not an 03:23.731 --> 03:25.787 opportunity that a lot of people get 03:25.787 --> 03:27.898 and they given me the chance to prove 03:27.898 --> 03:29.565 myself . So I'm excited , I'm 03:29.565 --> 03:31.731 definitely excited to push my limits . 03:31.731 --> 03:34.320 I know it's gonna sound cheesy , but 03:34.330 --> 03:36.669 I'm so excited to learn so much more 03:36.679 --> 03:38.846 about aviation because on the civilian 03:38.846 --> 03:40.957 side , we always said that like , you 03:40.957 --> 03:43.235 really never stop learning in aviation , 03:43.235 --> 03:45.457 there's always something new to learn . 03:45.457 --> 03:47.512 And I feel like the military is just 03:47.512 --> 03:49.568 gonna give me so much more knowledge 03:49.568 --> 03:51.568 and I'm excited . It's like the one 03:51.568 --> 03:53.790 thing that in my life , like throughout 03:53.790 --> 03:56.012 high school I was , I had good grades , 03:56.012 --> 03:58.235 but I never applied myself . Honestly . 03:58.235 --> 04:00.290 I don't think I studied for a single 04:00.290 --> 04:02.457 test in high school . The minute I got 04:02.457 --> 04:04.623 to flight school is when I would study 04:04.623 --> 04:07.110 eight hours a day and like , be ok with 04:07.119 --> 04:09.286 it . Like I wanted to study and that's 04:09.286 --> 04:11.940 when I knew that it was the career path 04:11.949 --> 04:14.309 for me . And I'm always excited to know 04:14.320 --> 04:16.540 the most nerdy stuff about aviation 04:16.959 --> 04:20.670 being a female pilot is honestly fun . 04:21.209 --> 04:23.540 Uh , I love the looks I get when I tell 04:23.549 --> 04:25.882 people I'm a pilot because they're like , 04:25.882 --> 04:27.938 that's , that's , that's not right . 04:27.938 --> 04:29.882 It's like , it's , it's not , it's 04:29.882 --> 04:31.882 perfectly ok to be a female pilot . 04:31.882 --> 04:33.993 It's just not common . And that's , I 04:33.993 --> 04:36.105 think that's what's really cool about 04:36.105 --> 04:35.589 it is you get the opportunity to do 04:35.600 --> 04:37.711 stuff that not a lot of other females 04:37.711 --> 04:40.630 do . And I hope that people do realize 04:40.640 --> 04:42.584 other females out there that it is 04:42.584 --> 04:44.820 possible . Honestly , throughout fly 04:44.829 --> 04:47.010 school , female pilots usually did a 04:47.019 --> 04:49.297 little bit better than the male pilots . 04:49.297 --> 04:51.575 Yeah , I , I definitely would say like , 04:51.575 --> 04:53.408 if you , if you want a career in 04:53.408 --> 04:55.463 aviation and if you wish to become a 04:55.463 --> 04:57.630 pilot , it's not as crazy as you think 04:57.630 --> 04:59.797 it is . I thought it was insane when I 04:59.797 --> 05:02.010 was 17 years old and being like , I 05:02.019 --> 05:04.241 wanna go fly helicopters , everyone was 05:04.241 --> 05:07.220 like , like what I was like , I wanna 05:07.230 --> 05:09.341 fly helicopters and like , yeah , but 05:09.341 --> 05:11.508 how do you , how do you start ? I knew 05:11.508 --> 05:13.730 nothing about it and I think it's ok to 05:13.730 --> 05:15.619 know nothing about what you wanna 05:15.619 --> 05:17.730 pursue because that's where you learn 05:17.730 --> 05:19.841 and you get excited to learn all this 05:19.841 --> 05:22.519 stuff . I for sure , definitely want to 05:22.529 --> 05:24.418 have a long career with the South 05:24.418 --> 05:27.000 Carolina National Guard so far with the 05:27.010 --> 05:29.121 short amount of time I've been in the 05:29.121 --> 05:31.121 Guard . They have given me a lot of 05:31.121 --> 05:33.121 great opportunities , great support 05:33.121 --> 05:35.232 system . And honestly , I've met some 05:35.232 --> 05:37.399 really good people that are great role 05:37.399 --> 05:39.566 models in my life . And I hope one day 05:39.566 --> 05:42.089 in the future I can give that back . I 05:42.100 --> 05:44.630 really do hope that I can be a role 05:44.640 --> 05:47.049 model for future aviators . I remember 05:47.059 --> 05:48.948 my chief instructor during flight 05:48.948 --> 05:51.059 school was a female and she knew 05:51.070 --> 05:53.869 everything and she was a great pilot as 05:53.880 --> 05:56.102 well and I hope to one day be as good a 05:56.102 --> 05:56.730 pilot as she was .