By Aleta Vinas, ANN Correspondent

"We need more chicks!," declared USAF Captain Kim Black from the stage at the Women in Aviation International Conference. Black is a B1B Bomber pilot. Being the only female in a squadron with 99 "boys," her statement is almost a plea. Black is confident she has the best job in the world, and she'd like more females to share her passion for aviation.

Passionate she is, she gets "misty" on stage talking about her loyalty and patriotism. The WAI audience applauds her for it. "I serve God, I serve my country, I serve my family, I serve my people." Black talks about "servanthood," as she calls it, as a choice not a debt.

Black's love of flight began when she was on a commercial flight from Denver to El Paso at about age 6. "I looked like one of those Garfield stuffed animal toys with the suction cups looking out the window. I was mesmerized," remembers Black. She thought she might be a flight attendant. The idea of being a pilot didn't become apparent until college.

There was no doubt Black was going to college. "Honey, I can't pay for it but you're going," Black's mother told her. The military was the last thing on her mind when Black's high school counselor mentioned college ROTC to her. "Military? You're not gonna get me in the military," swore Black. Her counselor calmed her down. Black thought of her mother's statement and agreed to give it a try.

In high school Black had taken the Private Pilot ground school as an elective. She loved it so much her grandparents paid for her flight lessons.

The ROTC recruiter was impressed when he saw Black had her private ticket. "Are you interested in being a pilot?," the recruiter asked her. This was in 1992 - 1993 when the service was just starting to allow women to fly combat. She took the ROTC tests and did well enough to start pilot training. Black was flying the B1B in under two years.

Bombers were not Black's original intention. Black was high enough in her class to be able to choose Air Mobility Command (tankers, transport and cargo) or Air Combat Command (fighters and bombers). Black chose Air Combat Command since she originally wanted to be a fighter pilot.

Halfway through her training she switched from fighters to bombers, after talking with two instructors who'd flown the B1B. Black says, "I loved everything that they talked about, the missions, the mentality and just their way of life." Black also liked the idea of being protected by the fighters. The four person B1B crew was more her style as opposed to the solo fighter pilot.

Black has been in the Air Force for nine years. She has about 1,500 hours, almost a third of which are combat. She's been married for almost two years to husband Brett who is also in the Air Force in a non-flying position. The two weather their separations, as military couples must.

Black has been deployed four times. Her second deployment was six months after 9-11. She becomes "misty" again as she speaks of it on stage. "I got to be a direct part of the justice that was being served."

Over the years her missions have changed, and had her second guessing why she was there if it wasn't for her original mission. One 15-hour mission gave her the answer. The B1B was in a holding pattern when some ground troops asked for a "show of force," Black related. This means, according to Black "going to a lower altitude, putting in full hog and making some noise." Black and her crew put on their show, continued their mission and headed home. Tears well up again when she recounts that when they returned, she was told they saved 20 guys lives with their low pass. Her lesson, she says, "if you find yourself in a support role, be proud to support because you might be doing a lot better job than what you think you're doing."

Certainly a minority in what she is doing, Black has "never" been harassed as a female in the Air Force. She has never felt dismissed or left out by her peers, although, Black jokingly says, "sometimes I wish I was left out of certain situations or certain conversations." Black notes the 99 "boys" in her squadron "feel free to talk about and do anything around me."

She notes at certain times of the month, "I get grouchy and complaining and they (the guys) don't know why. Hence Black's request for "more chicks" so there will be others who understand.

Black can't point to one specific mentor that has helped her along, but many and one very special one. "Every single Commander that I've ever had has always been so supportive." She adds, "I owe it all to God for putting me in these jobs that I've had with these awesome Commanders."

She acknowledges that her predecessors made her pathway in aviation easier. "The WASPS have paved the road. I'm walking a clearer path here and they're the ones who bulldozed it over."

Her advice to future aviators? "Be a decent, respectable human being with a sense of humor, mind you, because you have to take the humor in with all the other stuff and you'll succeed."

FMI: www.wai.org