Retired Air Force pilot speaks out on DEI rollbacks and erased military history
Retired Lt. Col. Jessica Ruttenber, a former KC-135 pilot and 21-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, has become a vocal advocate for preserving the stories and progress of women and minorities in the military. In a recent interview, she reflected on her career, the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and the erasure of historical records that highlight the contributions of underrepresented service members.
Ruttenber, who grew up in Florida and was inspired by the Blue Angels, said she joined the Air Force at a time when women were just beginning to break into fighter pilot roles. Although she did not meet the height requirement to fly fighters, she flew the KC-135 and deployed multiple times to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I was lucky enough to fly the KC-135 and got to see the entire world,” she said. “At the end of my career, the things that prevented me from meeting my fullest potential, as well as my airmen, were policies I worked on that just happened to benefit women.”
Active service to nonprofit advocate
After retiring, Ruttenber continued her advocacy through nonprofit work, offering aviation scholarships to underserved communities.
Her recent activism was sparked by a Department of Defense directive that removed DEI-related content from public platforms. Ruttenber posted a photo of herself with tape over her mouth and the phrase “404 Not Found” in protest of what she described as censorship.
“When the executive order came out in January, it translated into a DOD document eliminating DEI across our publicly facing platforms,” she said. “There was instant panic.”
She said the Department of the Air Force’s Women’s Initiative Team (WIT), which she joined later in her career, was immediately disbanded. The volunteer group had worked on data-driven solutions to eliminate outdated barriers for women in service.
“We were established in 2008 under the Bush administration,” she said. “We just got lumped in. It was collateral damage.”
Ruttenber said the removal of stories from military archives — including those of the Tuskegee Airmen, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) and the first female Thunderbird pilot — amounted to erasing history, though some WASP pilots have since been restored.
“These stories started disappearing,” she said. “It really hurt. That, to me, was a red flag. This is censorship.”
Two steps forward, one step back
She emphasized that acknowledging the history of exclusion in the military is not a political issue but a matter of preserving truth.
“Yes, there was a time we did not let Black people fly airplanes. Yes, there was a time we did not let women fly combat aircraft until 1993,” she said. “Eliminating those stories is not eliminating DEI — it is eliminating history.”
When asked whether she believed the rollback of DEI efforts was an attempt to return to a military dominated by white men, Ruttenber avoided attacks but challenged the underlying ideas.
“I like to challenge ideas, not individuals,” she said. “It feels like two steps forward, one step back. But I am hopeful.”
She said she felt a duty to speak out on behalf of those still serving who could not voice their concerns publicly.
Ruttenber also described policy reversals that affected women’s ability to fly while pregnant. One such policy, which allowed women to fly during healthy pregnancies in noncombat environments, was recently overturned.
“It was a knee-jerk reaction,” she said. “Flying a plane does not increase the risk of miscarriage. The data just does not support grounding women in their first trimester.”
Ruttenber had flown during three pregnancies and helped champion the development of a maternity flight suit. She credited Capt. Chelsea Jones with the original idea and said the suit addressed safety concerns that oversized uniforms posed.
“They told me to just wear my husband’s flight suit,” she said. “First of all, you are assuming my husband is a pilot. Second, that is not the answer.”
The next generation
She said the cultural shift from tolerance to full inclusion was evident in the younger generation of service members.
“I was flying with a guy who said, ‘Is that a Medela breast pump? My wife just gave birth five months ago,’” she recalled. “I thought, ‘When did this conversation change?’”
To combat the erasure of history, Ruttenber began posting daily stories of women veterans and created videos to teach others how to file Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
“I want to make sure this information is preserved,” she said. “We need to push back.”
She also worked with lawmakers to challenge recent policy changes, including restrictions on flying while pregnant.
When asked whether women or pregnant service members hurt military readiness, Ruttenber pushed back strongly.
“We cannot do it without women,” she said. “The Army met its recruiting goals for the first time in a decade because of a surge in qualified women.”
She noted that men are statistically more likely to be nondeployable due to administrative issues, yet the focus remains on pregnant women.
“It is a little lopsided to look at it one way,” she said.
The resistance to change
Ruttenber said the military’s resistance to change stems from fear and a lack of information.
“Change is hard. In the absence of information, we are going to have fear, and fear drives poor decisions,” she said.
She concluded by emphasizing the importance of preserving diverse stories in the military.
“This is the story of America,” she said. “We are not just a white nation. When we eliminate our history, we are saying, ‘You do not matter.’”
Ruttenber encouraged others to support veterans by simply sharing their stories.
“If you see a post about an amazing veteran, just repost it,” she said. “It does not matter who they are — just repost it.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
