Maj. Cari Piha, 535th Airlift Squadron instructor pilot, conducts an all-female C-17 Globemaster flight training mission around the Hawaiian Islands in honor of Women’s History Month in March 2021. (Makensie Cooper/U.S. Air Force)
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii — Pacific Air Forces is recruiting volunteers for Iron Athena, a fledgling initiative focused on addressing readiness and retention barriers faced by female airmen and their families.
Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of Pacific Air Forces, late last month signed off on the charter for the initiative, which is named for the mythical Greek goddess of wisdom and war, according to an Oct. 31 Air Force news release.
Iron Athena is a “for-Airman, by-Airman” grassroots volunteer effort inspired by similar “Athena” organizations in the Air Force, Maj. Jungmoo Lee and Senior Master Sgt. Rebecca Hudalla, co-leads of the program, said in a Nov. 7 email response to written questions.
The original was the Air Combat Command’s Sword Athena in 2020. Among those that followed were Dagger Athena at Air Force Special Operations Command, Reach Athena at Air Mobility Command and Torch Athena at Air Education and Training Command.
“Iron Athena is the result of multiple, dedicated Airmen across PACAF who wanted to bring the Athena model to the Pacific Theater,” the email states.
Overall Air Force retention rates for enlisted airmen in fiscal year 2023 was 88.68% and did not vary by sex, according to a December 2023 Air Force report. The officer retention rate for that period was 90.57% for women and 90.71% for men.
The top reason cited by both male and female officers in leaving the service was work/life balance. Enlisted men and women cited leadership as the top reason.
No specific statistics regarding readiness or retention within Pacific Air Forces led to Iron Athena’s creation, but Lee and Hudalla wrote that they have seen firsthand the challenges facing some airmen in the Pacific theater.
“I decided to take this initiative on when I saw some of the burdens our single-parent PACAF Airmen faced in finding childcare when they were tasked with a last minute Temporary Duty,” Lee is quoted in the email.
“Though this is a problem for any parents, being in an overseas location away from your traditional community support makes it even more difficult,” she said. “Through Iron Athena, my hope is that we can make it easier for our single-parent Airmen to take their missions on without having to worry about childcare and that other PACAF Airmen will also have an avenue to bring up their challenges and solutions.”
Hudalla said in the email that she took part in the Air Force’s Barrier Analysis Working Group specific to her career field.
Volunteer members of those working groups analyze the service’s policies and procedures that might impede equal opportunity and inclusion, “including female and family-centric barriers and multiple programs at the Wing level,” Hudalla is quoted in the email.
“Iron Athena is a platform and tool our PACAF team can use to identify and work on changing them and continue to be effective teammates accomplishing our ever-evolving mission set,” Hudalla wrote.
The Iron Athena team will be drawn from volunteers across the theater, and members will “look for challenges that our Airmen and their families may have while living in PACAF’s many different overseas locations,” the email states.
Pacific Air Forces’ area of responsibility spans from Alaska and Hawaii to Guam, Japan and South Korea.
“At its core, Iron Athena’s goal is to ensure our Airmen and their family readiness is matching the pace of our rapid developing mission set out in the Pacific,” the email states.
With the program just launching, it was too soon to provide specific objectives or solutions, the email states.
“Nonetheless, we are hopeful that the program will help identify issues Airmen may be facing and improve access and resources,” the email states.
For more information or volunteer opportunities, email Lee at jungmoo.lee.2@us.af.mil or Hudalla at rebecca.hudalla@us.af.mil.
