Squadron Leader Anaïs
Anaïs in front of a CASA CN-235 on the Evreux Air Base. Photo Credit: French Air & Space Force
Anaïs knows that sometime in 2021, although the exact date remains to be determined, she will move up a rank from Squadron Leader to Wing Commander. This charming young woman also knows that she will be leaving the greyness of Air Base 105 in Evreux, 100 kms west-north-west of Paris, to take a command post under the sunnier skies of Martinique where she will be director of the State Aeronautics Centre. “At the civilian airport there is a military zone that I’ll be responsible for,” she tells me, adding enthusiastically that the advantage of working in the armed forces is “that you can have several careers in one.”
Her own began at the Air Force Training Academy (École de l'Air) in 2004. She prepared for the competitive entrance exam at the School of the Air Wards (École des Pupilles de l'Air) following the brutal preparatory course: superior maths and special maths, in other words maths, maths and more maths. Students normally submit their applications to several Grandes Écoles but Anaïs, determined to be a pilot, only applied to one. “I've always chosen just one thing and it’s always worked out for me,” she smiles. “I wanted a cool job and it was my flying club instructor, a former army helicopter pilot, who first told me about the military when I was 16.”
““I can’t wait to stop talking about the problems of integrating women into a masculine environment””
Over the years “it became obvious” that Anaïs would try her luck in the Air Force even if her family “is basically somewhat antimilitarist but, paradoxically, shares the same values as the military.” Such as? “The humanist side, the fact of giving meaning to one's actions, of defending one's ideas, of assuming that men and women can do the same things,” she explains. Like her grandmother who was in politics and her mother who was a computer scientist. So when her family “saw that I was in my rightful place and that I hadn't changed,” their initial reluctance turned to pride.
In her Air Force Academy class of around 80 students there were two other women planning to be pilots. Anaïs says she had no particular problems due to her gender during training. However, “I understood that it was not obvious to everyone because fingers were pointed at the girls.” But she feels “free to be whatever I want. I am neither a very 'masculine' woman, nor a particularly 'feminine' one,” she remarks. After a common core during which the cadets “rub shoulders with fighter and transport pilots and follow motivational courses in the squadrons,” they are oriented towards becoming combat or transport pilots based not only on their own wishes but also on their class ranking.
Anaïs opted to be a transport pilot because “there are no oversized egos, there is a notion of the collective, of sharing, of openness; we travel, we fly more, we work as a crew, we discuss the mission with the others. The collective prevails and that's what I love.”
She chose to be a TBM 700 pilot, flying VIPs around Europe; this way she could come home every night, or almost, to the non-commissioned officer she had married when she was 23 and their little girl. “I wanted to be a superwoman: to be a perfect mother, a great wife and a good pilot,” she laughs, before adding ironically, “it didn't work out.” She recounts candidly that “we were trying to compromise, but it was a very complex equation. There was a lot of pressure on managing both the family and our careers. There were also constraints on our military career choices.” After 10 years her husband left, leaving their daughter in her care. “I managed on my own for five years,” she says, but admits that having a career and looking after a child on your own “is acrobatic, it's not easy.” So today “the dad has custody and although I spend less time with my daughter, at least the time we spend together is quality time," she says, smiling bravely. During this complicated phase of her life she received “a lot of support” from the Air and Space Force.
Squadron Leader Anaïs at the controls of her aircraft. Photo Credit: French Air & Space Force
And then in 2017 she was appointed for a four-month mission as head of air operations for MINUSCA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic). Working with men from countries “unaccustomed to women exercising military responsibilities,” things were “a little complicated” at first she concedes. But, “I was the boss and they finally got it ... Not always as quickly as they might,” she laughs.
On her return from this mission Anaïs wanted a change of job and aircraft. She wanted to become second in command of a CASA CN-235 squadron. But to do so, she had to pass the qualification exams on this tactical transport aircraft, which led to an “intensive” year. Today, within the Ventoux squadron on Air Base 105 in Evreux, Anaïs assumes “a command style focused on people and trust,” which she thinks is simply “linked to [her] personality.”
Anaïs with the Willow Willpower doll in Africa. Photo Credit: French Air & Space Force
Anaïs is a woman who wants to inspire young girls to follow their dreams. During one of her missions for the Barkhane Force, she was accompanied by Willow Willpower, a doll that travels around the world exclusively on airplanes piloted by women. “It is very important for me to encourage girls to do what they want, to break down barriers, to just go for it,” she says.
“We pilot our life. We have to know what kind of woman we want to be. Choices have to be made that are sometimes difficult. But I can't wait to stop talking about the problems of integrating women into a masculine environment,” she says passionately. Perhaps this will be the case when her daughter is an adult? “D’you think so?” She looks dubious.
