Trump’s anti-DEI purges are wiping out stories of my Air Force service. It’s un-American censorship.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jessica “STING” Peterson, a 42-year-old flight test engineer who has worked with the Air Force for nearly 20 years, first as a civil servant and later as a contractor. In February, Peterson found out that many articles highlighting her accomplishments or written by her would be removed following orders in a memo from the Office of the Secretary of Defense about the removal of content related to DEI from Department of Defense websites. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve been a flight test engineer for nearly 20 years, and it’s been amazing. We’re the bridge between design engineers like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman who are designing the system, and users — the warfighters and pilots — who will use the system.
When I very first started working for the Air Force 20 years ago as a college intern, I was the only woman on my team. Throughout my career, I’ve sometimes been the only woman in the room.
But to be honest, I usually don’t even notice it. As I’ve gotten more experience and more credentials — like graduating from test pilot school, which is very hard to get into — my confidence has grown.
For most of my career, the gender divide hasn’t been that big of a deal to me, which is one of the reasons that the removal of content about me has been so shocking.
In articles written about women, even if the focus wasn’t on someone being a woman, there was often a side note about their gender and the things they had to overcome because it was unique, making them susceptible to now being removed.
It is un-American and incorrect to remove historical context; no history should be removed.
My daughter was devastated by my articles being removed
As test flight engineers, we collect data and evaluate the systems to make sure they’re doing what they’re supposed to. The exciting part is flying in airplanes; I’ve flown in over 40 different types of airplanes, including F-16s and T-38s, which are supersonic fighter aircraft, and C-12s, which are cargo planes.
I had friends in the public affairs office who warned me that several articles about and by me would be removed, such as one about a flyover by our female crew to send off the US women’s soccer team to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.
When I first found out, I honestly thought, Oh, that’s a bummer. But I wasn’t majorly upset; we already had the benefit of doing the outreach and getting kids excited about flying and about STEM.
When the articles started getting removed, it became more emotional. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I told my family, and my daughter was devastated.
I saw the impact that this will have on the next generation. It isn’t just about removing the stories — it’s about the message that it sends to the next generation of kids. I’m concerned that there will be fewer opportunities for them, especially females and minorities, in the future.
It’s sad to see my factual articles being removed
It was unfortunate to see one of our factual articles about the testing of aircrew flight equipment that fits females removed. For years, women didn’t have bladder relief systems while flying, so many were having medical issues and dealing with tactical dehydration from not drinking water.
I was so encouraged when there started to be a focus on getting these systems for women in the last four or five years. As an engineer, I want to solve problems. That was a problem we were trying to solve, and then the article was removed. It was sad.
When I first started flying about 10 years ago, I remember specifically asking for a female flight suit, and I was told no because they were more expensive. I didn’t question it because I felt so happy and fortunate to get to fly.
I don’t want any woman to have to deal with that in the future.
People have been so supportive
I decided it was important to let people know that this was happening, so I posted my experience on LinkedIn. The response I’ve gotten has been so positive.
Many previous coworkers, including male fighter pilots, have reached out to tell me how much they appreciate my contributions and how shocked they are about what’s happening.
Last year, I took students from the aerospace engineering club of the University of Nevada, Reno, where I’m currently working on my Ph.D., on a tour to Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave desert to see how flight tests work. Several of those students have reached out to tell me how much they support me. That’s been encouraging.
I’ve also had many Department of Defense civilians and military members reach out and express frustration and fear over what’s happening. They feel they can’t publicly speak out, and I fear there’s been extensive damage to the morale and trust in the DoD workforce.
I feel hopeful that the content will be restored, but haven’t seen it happen yet
With the recent statement from the DoD on the reassessment of archived content, I’m hopeful that all historical content will be restored, but I haven’t seen any action yet. Within the last two weeks, two more news blurbs about our US women’s soccer team flyover were deleted from other Air Force websites.
I want people to contact their representatives and say, “We should not be removing history. We should not be removing articles based on specific words that are in them.”
I believe that the vast majority of the US population, independent of their political beliefs, thinks that censorship and removal of history aren’t right but people just don’t know it’s already happening.
