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Heidi Riegel, a former sergeant in the U.S. Marines, has always had a friendly competition with her father. “He was in the Army, so I had to one-up him by becoming a Marine,” she jests.
Despite this ongoing “rivalry,” when it came to choosing a profession, Riegel became a mechanic—just like her dad. “I like fixing things,” she explains. “It’s the satisfaction of making something useful out of a giant paperweight. When I enlisted in the Marines, I thought, ‘Planes are cool. Let’s try to fix them.’” One of only three women in her squadron, Riegel got her wish and after training she served as an aircraft mechanic from 2003 to 2008.
What she didn’t give much thought to at the time was how she’d be the only woman in the shop at her squadron in the Marine Corps. “It’s always difficult going into a new shop,” says Riegel, 34, who now works as a heavy-equipment mechanic for the Minnesota Department of Transportation. “They’re looking at you and thinking, ‘Is this one an oxygen thief or [is she] worth the time?’ They do it to guys, too.” But when a guy doesn’t pull his weight, they tend to say, “Oh, so-and-so is lazy,” she observes. “Yet if a woman acts similarly, they say all women are lazy.”
Overall, % of active-duty military personnel are women, up from 11% in 1990.
SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTERRiegel says it took at least six months for the male Marines in her shop to stop doubting her abilities. But she never complained. “It would have been counter-productive. They would have thought, ‘She doesn’t want to pay her dues,’” Riegel says. Over time, she became friends with several of her male colleagues.
Another female Marine eventually joined Riegel in the shop. “She was shorter than I am and fit more easily into small spaces,” says Riegel, who’s five foot ten, explaining that a petite frame can be an advantage when it comes to fixing compact F18s. “It was a relief to have another woman working there. I liked having someone to talk to who offered a different perspective.” Over time, Riegel became her mentor. Then, during a tour in Japan, the two roomed together. “We’d have ice cream and a beer and talk for hours,” Riegel recalls.
After Riegel left the military, she wanted to avoid the difficulty that many vets face in finding employment. She also didn’t want her résumé to land in the trash because she didn’t have the required skills—even though there are more advanced manufacturing jobs available than people to fill them. So in 2016, she enrolled in Workshops for Warriors https://wfw.org/, a nonprofit school in San Diego that trains, certifies and helps place vets in advanced manufacturing jobs. There she learned to weld, a critical skill for advancing in her field. “If you don’t know how to weld, you’ll never be considered a top diesel mechanic,” she says. “Having the skill helped me get my current position.”
Women make up nearly one-in-five active-duty personnel in the Air Force (19%), 18% of the Navy, 14% of the Army, and just 8% of all Marines.
SOURCE: PEW RESEARCH CENTERRiegel was one of two female veterans to receive an annual scholarship from Ford Motor Company, which covers training costs. “The scholarship was extremely helpful, because I had to take off work to attend the workshops, so I wasn’t paid,” Riegel recalls.
She credits the program’s first-rate instructors with making sure the female participants gained the skills they need to weld like pros. “With women, a lot of our issues [have to do with] confidence. We get down on ourselves and say we can’t do it. But we can!” she says.
Female role models in her field have been tough to come by, but Riegel has had plenty of good examples in her life. Her mom went from working as a secretary at an optometric clinic to becoming a vision therapist and office manager. “She liked to tell my older sister and me that we could do anything we pleased,” says Riegel. Another guiding force is Riegel’s longtime partner, Danni. “She encouraged me to apply to Workshops for Warriors,” Riegel says. “Danni pushes me in ways that make my life better.”
“With women, a lot of our issues have to do with confidence. We get down on ourselves and say we can’t do it. But we can!”
% of heavy vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics are male.
SOURCE: U.S DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, 2017In Riegel’s current position, she found herself in a familiar situation: “I’m the only female mechanic,” she says. “At first the men were thinking, ‘This broad probably doesn’t know a wrench from a hammer.’ But I proved them wrong.” Now Riegel gets along with her male colleagues, calling them “cool cats,” which likely makes the coolest cat of all—her father—extremely proud.