A Navy helicopter pilot has been selected to become the first woman to command a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt was chosen for the position by the year 2022 aviation major command screen board.
Capts. Brent Gaut, Craig Sicola, Colin Day, David Pollard, and Gavin Duff were among other officers who were selected for nuclear aircraft command.
The Naval Air Forces has confirmed the selection on Monday. It is not yet known which of the eleven nuclear-powered vessels Capt. Bauernschmidt will command.
In 2016, Bauernschmidt also made history when she became the first female executive officer of a nuclear aircraft carrier and was second-in-command of 5,000 crew.
In a 2018 interview with CBS News, Bauernschmidt said: “That law absolutely changed my life. We were the first class that graduated knowing and feeling honored with the privilege to be able to go serve along the rest of our comrades in combat.”
She added: “There are a lot of times in life that you’re a little nervous or afraid to do something, ’cause you think you’re gonna fail. Well, so what? I mean… what’s the worst that’s gonna happen if I fail?
“You know, If you fail you get up and you may realize in that failure that what you’re really meant to do is something else.”
It was in 1996 when Bauernschmidt received her wings as a naval aviator and flew with the Helicopter An-submarine Squadron Light 45 ‘Wolfpack’ in San Diego.
She has accumulated over 3,000 flight hours in naval helicopters aboard different carriers, her official Navy biography stated.
She also told CBS News that service is about “contributing to something greater than yourself.
“For me, it is about supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States. But it’s also about these young men and women that I lead every day.”
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