The ready room of the *USS Dwight D. Eisenhower* hummed with the low, steady vibration of the nuclear-powered carrier cutting through the waters of the Red Sea. It was late, the kind of hour where the coffee tastes like copper and the adrenaline of the day finally begins to settle.
At a small table in the corner, a game of cribbage was underway.
“Fifteen-two, fifteen-four, and a pair makes six,” Lt. Serena Wileman said, her trademark unrelenting smile flashing as she pegged her points on the wooden board.
Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay Evans looked up from her tactical tablet, shaking her head with a wry grin. “You have the worst poker face, Serena. But the best luck of any aviator in the squadron.”
“It’s not luck, Lyndsay. It’s pure, unadulterated skill,” Serena laughed, her voice carrying that infectious energy that made her a favorite among the “Zappers” of Electronic Attack Squadron 130. “Besides, I need to stay sharp. Brandon would never let me live it down if I let my cribbage game slip while deployed.”
Lyndsay set her tablet down. As a Growler Tactics Instructor—and recently named the best in the fleet for 2024—her mind was usually running a mile a minute, calculating electronic warfare scenarios and coordinating combat strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. But here, across from Serena, she allowed herself to just breathe.
“How is Brandon doing?” Lyndsay asked.
“Good. Flying, missing me, missing Riley,” Serena sighed, her eyes softening at the mention of her Chiweenie mix. “I swear, that dog is running the house while I’m gone.”
“Nix probably has my parents completely trained by now,” Lyndsay smiled, thinking of her energetic Australian shepherd back home in California. It was one of the many things that had bonded the two thirty-one-year-olds: their California roots, their love for their dogs, and the shared, unspoken weight of being women in a fiercely demanding, male-dominated arena.
—
Trailblazers in the Red Sea
The heavy steel door of the ready room unlatched, and a young female Ensign, barely out of flight school, stepped in. She looked exhausted, overwhelmed by the grueling pace of Operation Prosperity Guardian.
Serena stood up immediately, her maternal instinct kicking in. She didn’t offer a handshake or a formal nod; she wrapped the young officer in a giant bear hug.
“Rough trap tonight, Ensign?” Serena asked gently, tapping into her expertise as a Landing Signal Officer. She knew exactly how terrifying landing on a pitching deck in the pitch black could be.
“I missed the three-wire,” the Ensign admitted, looking down. “Felt like I was fighting the jet the whole way down. I just… I want to be as steady as you both are. I watch you guys coordinate these combat strikes over land, and it just feels miles away from where I am.”
Lyndsay pulled up a chair for the junior officer. “Sit. Let me tell you a secret about being ‘steady.'”
Lyndsay leaned forward, her tactical expertise softening into pure mentorship. “None of us start out steady. When I enlisted in 2010, and even after I commissioned from USC, I had moments where the sky felt too big and the deck felt too small. But you don’t fly the jet with fear; you fly it with training. You belong here.”
“Lyndsay is right,” Serena added, dealing a new hand of cards. “Do you know what she did before this deployment? She flew in the all-female flyover for the Super Bowl in 2023. Millions of people watching.”
The Ensign’s eyes went wide. “That was you, ma’am?”
“It was,” Lyndsay nodded. “But we didn’t do it just for the spectacle. We did it so that little girls sitting in their living rooms, and junior officers standing in this ready room, know that the sky has no glass ceiling. We fly combat missions because we are capable. We coordinate strikes because we are experts. You will get there. You just have to keep showing up.”
“And when you have a bad day,” Serena grinned, tapping the cribbage board, “you come find me. I will kick your butt at cards, give you a hug, and remind you why you earned those wings.”
—
The Final Flight and an Enduring Legacy
Months later, the *Eisenhower* returned home. The Zappers had completed their deployment, having relied on the profound skill, grace, and leadership of women like Serena and Lyndsay to bring them through the fire of combat.
But naval aviation is a calling that demands everything, even in the quiet skies of home.
On a Tuesday afternoon in October, during a routine training flight in their EA-18G Growler, the unthinkable happened. Over the steep, heavily wooded, snow-covered wilderness east of Mount Rainier in Washington, their aircraft went down.
Despite the heroic search and rescue efforts of multiple partner agencies and Army Special Forces navigating the treacherous Cascade Mountain Range, the Navy transitioned to recovery. Two of their brightest stars were gone.
Cmdr. Timothy Warburton, commanding officer of VAQ-130, addressed a heartbroken squadron. *”More than just names and ranks, they were role models, trailblazers, and women whose influence touched countless people on the flight deck and well beyond.”*
—
Empowering the Next Generation
The story of Lt. Serena Wileman and Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay Evans does not end in the rugged terrain of the Pacific Northwest. It lives on in the roar of the engines launching off the deck of an aircraft carrier.
It lives on in the meticulous tactical planning of the Growler community, where Lyndsay’s standard of excellence set the bar for everyone who follows her. It lives on in the ready rooms, where Serena’s legacy reminds leaders that a heart of gold, a well-timed joke, and a sense of deep compassion are just as vital to a squadron’s survival as any weapon system.
Most importantly, their story is etched into the future. Every time a young girl looks up at a jet streaking across the sky, or a newly minted female aviator steps onto a flight deck for the very first time, they do so walking on a path paved by two incredible women from California.
They were daughters, dog moms, wives, and friends. They were fierce warriors and compassionate mentors. They owned the sky, and in their ultimate sacrifice, they passed the torch to the next generation, challenging them to fly higher, lead with love, and never back down.
