Armour, Vernice – United States First Black Female Combat Marine Pilot
By
John C Abercrombie
We have a brief history to contend with when it comes to Black female pilots in combat positions. Much of this is based on the fact that it is only recently that we have allowed any women into combat positions.
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This post focuses on Venice Armour, the first Combat helicopter in combat. Armour was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1973 to Gaston Armour, Jr. and Authurine Amour. She comes from a military family as her father and stepfather both had served in the military. Her birth father was a retired major in the United States Army Reserve. Her stepfather, Clarence Jackson was a former Marine Corps sergeant who served three tours in Vietnam. Her grandfather had been stationed at Montford Point Marine base and was the first Black to integrate the Marine Corps between 1942 and 1949.
Montford Point Marine Base was the first training facility for Black Marines during World War II. Bases were racially segregated and there was a railroad track that ran through the base with Blacks isolated on one side of the tracks. These marines were excluded in many respects. The needs for additional manpower and President Franklin D Roosevelt issuing an executive order in 1941 allowed the recruitment of Blacks into the Marine Corps. Montford is located at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Camp Montford was named after James E Montford a Black who served in the Spanish-American War.
Vernice Armour was raised in Memphis, Tennessee and was a member of the mathematics honor society, the National Honor Society and class Vice-President.
In 1993, while a student at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), Armour enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and later entered into the U.S. Army’s ROTC. She took time away from college in 1996 to pursue a childhood dream and became a Nashville police officer, becoming the first Black female on the motorcycle squad.
She graduated from MTSU in 1997 and became the first Black female police officer in Tempe, Arizona. Later she joined the Marines as an Officer Candidate in 1998. She was commissioned as second lieutenant in 1998 and sent to flight school at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas and later Pensacola, Florida earning her wings in 2001. She became the Marine Corps first Black female pilot.
She was assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton for training on the AH-1W SuperCobra. She continued to distinguish herself being named Camp Pendleton Female Athlete of the year twice and serving as a running back on the San Diego Sunfire women’s football team.
In March 2003, she flew with HMLA-169 during the invasion of Iraq becoming the Marines first Black female combat pilot. She completed two combat tours in the Gulf. Afterwards, she was assigned to the Manpower and Reserve Affairs Equal Opportunity Branch as program liaison officer.
Amour’s association with the SuperCobra attack helicopter earned her the nickname “Flygirl.”
Leaving the U.S. Marine Corps in June 2007, Armour began a career as a professional speaker and expert on creating breakthroughs in life.
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Vernice Armour
Leveraging her “Breakthrough Mentality” and “Get Gutsy” mindset, Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour propelled herself from beat cop to combat pilot in a record-breaking three years and became America’s First African American Female Combat Pilot. As featured on CNN, MSNBC, The View, FOX News, Oprah Winfrey and others, FlyGirl’s fresh, edgy style, high, contagious energy and unique, gutsy essence jump off the stage, page and screen and moves people to action. Since 2007, she has inspired countless organizations and individuals to make gutsy moves and create breakthrough results.
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Book
Zero to Breakthrough: The 7-step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals That Matter
Before she was 30 years old, Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour had become a decorated naval aviator, Camp Pendleton’s 2001 Female Athlete of the Year and Strongest Warrior winner, the first female African-American on Nashville’s motorcycle police squad, and a member of the San Diego Sunfire professional women’s football team. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and she believes that women and men from all walks of life have the potential to achieve the highest levels of success with the right flight plan.
In Zero to Breakthrough, Vernice turns aspiration into action by revealing how to create the path that will get you out of your rut and onto the runway – cleared for take off. Armour firmly believes that there is no such thing as a dream out of reach.
Integrating the foundational concepts of a breakthrough mentality like preparation, strategy, courage, legacy, and the importance of high spirits and enthusiasm, Zero to Breakthrough helps listeners build a sustainable inner force and conviction that result in accomplishing significant goals and becoming an extraordinary member of any business or community. Packed with hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business, you’ll learn strategies like how to:
Stop procrastinating and prepare to lay the groundwork for success
Execute situations with self-discipline to achieve mastery
Acknowledge and move past obstacles and challenges
Feel fear and use it to keep charging, and much more
Whether you want to jump up the corporate ladder, start your own business, or develop a passion into a livelihood, Zero to Breakthrough will get you there. For anyone seeking a fulfilling life, Armour has the ultimate launch pad.
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Vernice ‘Flygirl’ Armour
Brad got to interview the former Marine, Tempe Police Office, Author, and America’s First African American Female Combat Pilot, Vernice “Flygirl” Armour!
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Book
Badass Black Girl: Quotes, Questions, and Affirmations for Teens
Wisdom from badass Black female trailblazers who accomplished remarkable things in literature, entertainment, STEM, politics, law, sports, and more.
Explore the many facets of your identity through hundreds of big and small questions. In this affirmations audiobook created for Black girls, M. J. Fievre tackles topics such as family and friends, school and careers, body image, and stereotypes. By reflecting on these themes, you confront the issues that can hold you back from discovering your inner Black joy.
Embrace authenticity and celebrate who you are. Finding the courage to live as you are is not easy, so Badass Black Girl is designed to help you nurture creativity and positive self-awareness.
Change the way you view the world. These affirmations provide words of encouragement focused on Black joy to inspire and ignite discussion. You are growing up in a world that tries to tell you how to look and act. Fight the flow and determine for yourself who you want to be.
Badass Black Girl helps you to: build and boost your self-esteem with powerful, positive affirmations; learn more about yourself through insightful journaling prompts; and become confident in your authentic Black girl self.
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A Day in the Life of Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour
Combat tests you. Being a beat cop tests you. Life tests you. Three brothers and being the only girl…tests you. Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour has been tested her whole life. A gutsy trailblazer, her resume is an impressive collection of “firsts” including America’s first Black female combat pilot. She served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine. She was also a diversity liaison officer to the Pentagon for Headquarters Marine Corps. After her military service, FlyGirl embarked on a career in the private sector as an entrepreneur, consultant to business, (this was while I was still active duty), and author of Zero to Breakthrough, The 7-Step, Battle-Tested Method for Accomplishing Goals that Matter. As a speaker, FlyGirl unleashes hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business. She helps individuals and organizations Get Gutsy and build a sustainable inner force and conviction, that results in accomplishing significant goals.
In 2007, FlyGirl launched VAI Consulting & Training, LLC. Through that work, she helps individuals and organizations make gutsy moves and create breakthrough results by applying her “Zero to BreakthroughTM” Success Model – a mindset that helped to propel her career and kept her safe in air combat. FlyGirl regularly takes her message to premier meetings and conferences worldwide and is a Gutsy Confidence Mentor for elite senior executive Women in Tech.
As her newest business venture, in 2020 FlyGirl started FlyGirl Construction, a General Contracting Firm in the Atlanta, GA area.
As a Black gay woman and single mom, FlyGirl brings vital experience to her role as a member of the Forbes School of Business & Technology Board of Advisors and COMCAST/NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Council.
FlyGirl has two honorary doctorates and has received numerous awards as a pioneering pilot, including honors for her commanding role in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Vernice “FlyGirl” Armour’s story has been featured in the media including on CNN, MSNBC, The View, FOX News, Oprah Winfrey and many more, along with being a running back for the San Diego Sunfire professional women’s football team and two-time title holder of Camp Pendleton’s Strongest Warrior Competition.
She is currently working on her next book, The Gutsy Move.
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Book
Flying Free: How Bessie Coleman’s Dreams Took Flight
Based on Karyn Parson’s critically acclaimed Sweet Blackberry video series comes the story of Bessie Coleman, the first African American female to earn her pilot’s license.
Before Bessie Coleman blazed a high trail with her plane…. Before she performed in death-defying flying shows that would earn her fame as “Queen Bess”…. Before she traveled the country speaking out against discrimination, Bessie was a little girl with a big imagination that took her to the sky, through the clouds, and past the birds.
Knocking down barriers one by one, Bessie endured racism and grueling training to become the first Black female pilot and an inspiration to Mae Jemison, Josephine Baker, and many more influential people of color for years to come.
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Vernice “Flygirl” Armour, America’s first Black woman combat pilot, answers 7 Questions with Emmy
Every week I’m interviewing fascinating people in our community, nation and around the world!
The idea came from a Facebook commenter who saw a video of me and my family floating down the river in Island Park. The person said I should turn the tables and interview my dad (Nate Eaton) – so I did and the rest is history!
Today I’m speaking with Vernice “FlyGirl” – America’s first Black woman combat pilot. She served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Marine, was a diversity liaison officer to the Pentagon and runs VAI Consulting & Training.
FlyGirl also runs FlyGirl Construction, a General Contracting Firm in the Atlanta area, has two honorary doctorates and is a running back for the San Diego Sunfire professional women’s football team. Her story has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, The View, FOX News, Oprah Winfrey and many other programs.
Here are the questions I asked Flygirl:
Did you always want to be a combat pilot and did you ever worry that being a girl would hold you back?
Can you tell me about a time when you were flying and scared? How did you overcome the fear?
What is something someone might not know about flying in the military?
You’ve written books, started companies, been on national TV shows and accomplished a lot. What are you most proud of?
Have you ever been to Idaho and tried our famous potatoes?
You have a daughter named Noah. What is your favorite thing about being a mom?
What’s a piece of advice you have for me?
February is Black History Month. What does this month mean to you?
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Book
Willa Brown: & The Challengers
“Perez’s debut historical novel fictionalizes the story of three pioneering black aviators who changed the face of aeronautics. When one thinks about America’s aviation heroes, the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart come to mind. Lesser known are Cornelius C. Coffey, John C. Robinson and Willa B. Brown, real life AfricanAmerican historical figures who revolutionized aviation from the late 1920s through World War II.” …“An engaging, thorough novel about forgotten heroes of aviation history.”— KIRKUS REVIEWS
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Meet Vernice “Flygirl” Armour
Vernice “Flygirl” Armour shares her incredible story, and how it inspired a new book.
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We see myths busted every day we keep an open mind. The post on Armour is yet another case. The myth is that (in this case) Women can’t do this or that. The cure is to become aware of people like Vernice Armour by dreaming, dreaming big and pursuing that dream with vigor. Make an affirmation and insert your name in it and amaze not only yourself, but all that hear of you.