AE2(AW) LaTonya N. Davison, U.S. Navy (1996-2010)

Picture it, Atsugi Japan, 2003. I’m a ‘lowly’ E-5 aircraft electrician in VR-46 out of Marietta, GA, hand-picked for what’s known as a “Khaki Det (Detachment)”. The maintenance crew was all lower enlisted, chosen as the best mechanics and aircraft handlers in the command to accompany senior enlisted and officer maintenance administration and flight crew. I was one of 4 lower enlisted members of our 19 person crew.

Being chosen for the trip was testament that you’re good at what you do, validated by your superiors, but you are yet to prove yourself until you’re on the road. The Universe offered major moments to prove that capability from the beginning to the end of our trip. The heading system went down before our over-water leg, forcing us to land in San Clemente, CA. I was able to troubleshoot quickly, and got the HSI replaced within 2 hours, and we were on our way. Just prior to heading back home from Japan, our engine went down for 3 days, stranding us.

I didn’t have my fellow lower enlisted colleagues to rely on for assistance, as back at command headquarters, so I literally had to rely on my knowledge and skills, some of the expertise of the senior enlisted, but most who were reservists and flight crew, or those who had long since touched a plane. There is no pretending you know how to fix a plane, you either can, or you can’

I got to display my skills as not only an electrician and mechanic, but as a professional and peer of the senior Aviation Electrician’s who watched me work. I was also able to continue in my father’s footsteps, a former Navy aircraft mechanic during Vietnam.

As a young woman who struggled with math in high school, I never thought I would become someone who could study and understand complex circuit schematics, sufficient for putting a plane into the sky. I received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for the detachment. Colleagues often look for reasons to downplay the receipt of that award, but I knew, and my superiors knew, that it was well-earned. Definitely one of my life’s proudest moments.

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