page_title: Jeannie Leavitt
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Jeannie Leavitt / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: 1st Lt. Jeannie Flynn, the first F-15E female pilot, sits in the cockpit with the 555th Fighter Squadron patch visible on her right shoulder. 1st Lt. Flynn is assigned to the 555th for six months for F-15E tactical training.
context_page_description: Jeannie Marie Leavitt is a United States Air Force general officer. She became the U.S. Air Force's first female fighter pilot in 1993, and was the first woman to command a USAF combat fighter wing.
context_section_description: Leavitt began her Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas in 1992. She was being trained as a T-38 instructor pilot at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio when restrictions on women flying combat missions were dropped in April 1993. Thereafter she began formal combat training in the McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle, becoming the service's first female fighter pilot.
  Leavitt's F-15 flight hours have included 300 combat hours, mostly over Afghanistan and Iraq. On one mission, during Operation Southern Watch in 1996, she supported a Royal Air Force Tornado GR1 under threat from an Iraqi Roland surface-to-air missile.
  From 2002 to 2010, Leavitt earned three master's degrees; a Master of Business Administration from Auburn University in Alabama (2002), a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base (2004), and a Master of National Security Strategy from the National War College (2010).
  Leavitt's first command was the 333d Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. She was appointed Commander of the 4th Fighter Wing, at the same base in June 2012.
  In June 2014, Leavitt relinquished command of the 4th Fighter Wing to become principal military assistant to the Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C..
  In 2016, Leavitt became the first woman to take control of the 57th Wing at Nellis Air Force Base, and was promoted to brigadier general.
  In June 2018, Leavitt relinquished command of the 57th Wing to become commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service at Randolph Air Force Base, Joint Base San Antonio, in Texas.
caption: 1st Lt. Flynn sitting in the cockpit of a F-15E during her time (1993–94) with the 555th Fighter Squadron
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