LT Amanda Lee – The 1st Female Blue Angel

I never saw the Blue Angels until I enlisted, and I was actually working in Oceana in Virginian Beach, Virginia. And they came there to do their air show that they do every year, and that was the first time I saw them. And it is absolutely stunning. You can't help but look up at the sky and watch that incredible performance, especially if you've never seen anything like that before. And I can't believe that I'm sitting on this side of things this year. I'm Lieutenant Amanda Lee. I am number three, the left wing for the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. I grew up in Mounds View, Minnesota, and I've been in the military for over 16 years now. When I enlisted back in 2007, my initial goal was to go back to school for medical school. And when I picked up a commissioning source, all I knew was aviation. I was like, let's give pilot a shot. So I picked up pilot, and then my goal was to get back to the F-18 platform. And that's kind of how I found myself in fighter aviation. You know, the first time that you get in and fly the F-18, I remember the first time. I lit afterburner, I giggled so hard going down the runway because you get pushed back in the seat. The first time I did an aerobatic maneuver was actually in the T-6. I asked my instructors, I get all set on parameters, we're about to do a loop, and I'm like, do I just do it? He's like, you just do it. And we just did it. And then you kind of get more practice after you get that first one out of the way. And it's the same thing here on the team. You kind of think to yourself, are we really going to do this loop in formation? Yes. We're just going to do it, we're going to see how it goes, and we're going to get better from there. I have found that throughout my life, if I have given it 100% of my effort, I have found that opportunities open doors. But it's because of them that I was able to say, I want to try to be a pilot, I want to try to apply to Blue Angels, and I don't even have to think about it. I don't have to think about obstacles. I just know that, hey, I meet these qualifications, I think I'd be a great candidate, let me give it a shot. I think not just women in the Navy, I think overall to anybody, step outside your comfort zone. Do things that make you nervous or that you're scared to do because you're always going to surprise yourself at how well you can do and how brave you are. I think some of the best parts of this job are going up to CrowdLine and meeting the public. A lot of the kids that I see at CrowdLine, their parents come up to me and they're like, you are their favorite person on the team. And then I'm like, oh, do you want to fly? And they're like, nope, I want to insert whatever they want to do. And that is what is so cool is that they can have role models that are totally outside of what they want to do. And that's kind of what I'm hoping to inspire, that ripple effect that not just Navy, not just naval aviation, but better yourself and your community and in our country. Happy birthday, Navy, 248 years.