When Harriet Hall graduated from medical school in 1970 and entered the Air Force, she remained in an unique minority. As the second lady ever to do an Air Force internship, she needed to defend acceptance. Even a patient’s 3 year old child proclaimed, “Oh, Daddy! That’s not a medical professional, that’s a girl.” She was refused a residency, paid less than her male equivalents, could not survive on base, and could not claim her partner as a reliant due to the fact that he wasn’t a spouse. After 6 years as a basic medical officer in Franco’s Spain, she ended up being a family practice specialist and a flight cosmetic surgeon, doing everything from delivering infants to flying a B-52 She made her pilot’s license in spite of being told “Ladies aren’t supposed to fly,” and ultimately retired from the Flying force as a full colonel. She is witness to an era when society was starting to accept females in generally male tasks but didn’t entirely like the idea yet. A somewhat deformed sense of humor kept her afloat, and it spices the stories she outlines her own experiences and the patients and colleagues she experienced.
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