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Show fN( oWA Page ID North Edition Lakeside Review ' Wednesday, December 5, 1984 v,, Ml if P 'if.' Vi 1PM ' wyt When Donna Gerard, avionics technician, was growing up, little girls went to home economics and learned to cook and sew. And little boys went to shop and learned electronics, she said.' Donna is the avionics station chief and staff sargeant working on 6 technology at Hill Air Force Base. Her correct title is actually integrated avionics i i j F-1- t test station and component J specialist. Say the words inertial system to her, and she doesnt even bat an eye. Donna supervises six technicians who work on that portion of the 6 in the 388th squadron. My job is most exiciting. I work on equipment out here. Its all the new 5 F-1- state-of-the-- est technology. Though Ive never been a womans libber, I feel I have something valuable to contribute to the Air Force, she continued. She just came in bound and determined to do the job, Donna said. Her seventh year in the Air Force, she completed technical training school and learned basic electronics, circuitry and theory. I was the only woman in the class. It was frightening at first. I just sat there thinking Im not smart enough for this. But then I realized I was smart enough. After completing the course, graduates are assigned a trainer to learn on the job skills. The training personnel are very diligent about teaching proper procedures, ft infiMMMfinnnnpPf h hi nriMnMrinmMrnifipnpM I'l'tii MriMMiihimniHinpiinit ;nn,i explained. Once we have fixed a unit, it goes to the aircraft and the pilots life is in our uiV- !un - s, . - . n. fM. , , friMflMtlMM nr nnnnn Mfinrifin niHH ti FMI.E WHIT nnnM s- - (nfinrl Mnnnti s h k fj pmmmm nniHtmifinnnimu -- s nnnnii 'iiPHrinPhnn pppum m nun 2 ,t"Miin .a iiitnnn she hands. Terms like navigation calibration adapter and digital multimeter are like old friends to Donna. She performs a scale factor test with ease, and converses d using words like g ll . : fttipiiu f PI t. III 9 - sslsls. -'- MHMnrtnnntiH iKinrirtrintirmriMfimn MIMMMMHI I' If!' innnnppn" niinnnnimnn'innnfiMMiif ni IMtlPUftMIIU inMnnnnnnnpnnfinnnnnnnni iM'Vifinn n,Hn,nr,nnnnMnnMnnftnMnMMMtii innnriri . jms , , . . .-- JHt Ih MM wide-ban- parallel digital. Donna is the only woman in the classified room every day. The six men supervised by her respect me because I dont give them any reason not to, she said simply. Each station in the large clas- sified room she works in has its own interface adaptor, she said, to mate it to the individual station. In these stations, parts and pieces of the complicated 6 are monitored and tested for performance. In the two years since she has worked in the room, she said she loves it so much because she can use her brain. She was promoted to a station chief or team leader last F-1- May. If you dont like what you are doing, you arent going to do a good job, she said. When she joined the Air Force at 22, she said she had looked around her and seen middle-age- d women who had not had exciting experiences in their lives. I didnt want to be like that, always wondering if I could or would have done something. So I decided to take the chance I could do it. . Photos By Rodney Wright f ! Story By i t April Adams illustrates what the inside of the huge computer looks like as she pulls out various circuit boards. DONNA WITH HIGHLY old methods of testing equipment is Chief Master Sargeant James Wiltsie. EXPLAINING complicated gadgets and machines whirring and humming in the background, Donna tests a piece of equipment for the k ' F-1- 6. t Y 1 i |