Kelly Flinn :: essays research papers

Kelly Flinn, author of Proud to Be: My Life, The Air Force, The Controversy, was born on December 23, 1970, in St. Louis, Missouri. When she was 12, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from high school in 1989. On June 29, 1989, she entered the United States Air Force Academy and began her active-duty career in the U.S. Air Force. She graduated form the Academy on June 2, 1993, and then went on the Undergraduate Pilot Training at Columbus Air Force Base. In September 1995 she was the Distinguished Graduate in her B-52 formal Training Unit. She was then stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. On May 28, 1997, Kelly J. Flinn resigned from active duty instead of facing a court martial. Growing up wasn’t always easy for Kelly. She was the baby of the family, with four older brothers and sisters. Sitting in Catholic school, she tried to be the cute little girl she was supposed to be but on the playground, she was a terror. At the age of 5, she joined her first soccer league, which happened to be a boys’ team. Things stayed the same way until she got to high school. She began to notice boys and began to date. No one in her family had ever talked to her about the â€Å"birds and the bees,† or even about dating. Instead, independence, self-reliance, and strength were the most important things. If they had problems, they worked it out on their own. This served her poorly when she found herself in trouble with the Air Force years later. (pg. 9) When Kelly was 15, she went to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. She found out how much she loved space and the challenge and the control she experienced. After Space Camp, she knew what she had to do and how to do it. She was going to go to the Air Force Academy and learn how to fly. She spent the next years in high school studying, joining clubs, and filling out applications. In late spring of her senior year, she finally got her acceptance letter. Then, a few weeks later, she received a letter from the Academy that she wasn’t qualified to be a pilot because of her poor vision. â€Å"I felt as if I had be sent to hell after a quick taste of paradise† (pg.14) was how she described her rejection.