
Nancy Burt is a, U.S. Army Cold War Veteran, who has been posted to bases around the United States, and overseas in South Korea, Germany, Japan and Belgium. She has worked along side Canadian military members in international organizations: The United Nations Command (UNCR) in Japan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium.
She is also currently, a member of the Kingston, Canada sister cities group and participated in a number of activities during the Kingston Delegation visit to Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, last year.
Nancy began her military journey after graduating from Syracuse University in New York, accepting a civil service internship at the Pentagon working for the Air Force. Afterward, she was hired full time at the Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. About a year later she reconnected with colleagues at the Pentagon and learned that the Army was recruiting women as the men were exiting from the Vietnam War and the nation no longer had a draft system to fill the military ranks.
She applied for a Direct Commission in the Army, the largest branch of service, with many different opportunities especially for women. She did not know if she would be accepted since only 1 in 10 applicants would be successful. The acceptance letter arrived at a typical time 6 months later in 1975 and she packed up her car and off she went as a new Army 2nd Lieutenant driving from Arlington, Virginia to basic training at Ft. McClellan, Alabama.
She was a pioneer serving in a number of the positions newly opened to women and progressively in positions throughout her career.
Next, after additional training at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, she attended Army helicopter flight training in 1976 at Ft. Rucker, Alabama. Since flight training had recently opened to women, she was the 16th woman to attend. She also graduated from the Maintenance Test Pilot course in 1977 to complete all aviation training for her Aviation Maintenance assigned skill area. During her time in Aviation, she was pilot trained in the UH-1 Huey, OH-58(Kiowa) Scout, and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. Nancy said, “It was great to fly this dual engine helicopter with a lot more power than the other 2 single engine birds.”
She served in 3 Army Infantry Combat Divisions’ maintenance units: 4th Infantry at Ft. Carson, Colorado, 2nd Infantry Camp Casey, Korea, and 3rd Infantry in Germany, where she was the Commander of I CO., a maintenance unit with 263 soldiers supporting a large number of helicopters located at Giebelstadt Army airfield near Würzburg, Germany
Throughout her aviation days there was always discussion about whether women would be deployed with their units to combat situations. More than one of her Commanding Officers informed all women assigned to the divisions to disregard what they read in the newspapers, saw on T.V. or heard from Congress members, all women would deploy since there would be no soldiers to replace them. This is what women expected when they joined the military, yet it took a number of yours for policies and laws to catch-up with women serving in all military services. She also wondered why there was all this hesitancy about women serving in combat when women maintained the equipment that men took to combat situations.
Her other stateside postings included time at the Army Aviation Systems Procurement Command, St. Louis, Missouri where she worked on the bid analysis for the AH-64 (Apache) helicopter contract and OH-58(Kiowa) work order upgrades.
In the Army most serve in two different career fields. After 13 years working in aviation jobs, I was designated a Public Affairs specialist. My first assignment was as a Press Officer and Media Spokesperson for the Department of the Army at the Pentagon. She arrived close to the start of the US deployment called “DESERT STORM” the Gulf War in the Middle East in support of Kuwait after Iraq invaded the country.
Nancy remembers her first day in 1989 – 1990 looking up from reading a document on her desk and there was the 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley wanting answers to his questions for a story. There were other well-known media who worked at the Pentagon: Wolf Blitzer CNN, Katie Couric NBC, David Martin CBS, Barbara Starr JANE’s Defence Weekly paper and later CNN to name a few. There were many questions on combat equipment like night-vision goggles and what women were doing in the combat areas. With her previous aviation experience, she was able to provide the answers for media publications, radio, and television stories.
During this Gulf War deployment, the first female flight commander, Major Marie Rossi, died when her helicopter struck an unlight radio tower at night on March 1, 1991. The Depts of the Army and Defense still had not changed policies and laws that defined women’s role in combat. Rossi’s family buried her in Arlington National Cemetery with a headstone recognizing her pioneering sacrifice that reads, “First Female Combat Commander To Fly into Battle.” This was a sad time but paved the way to opening all flight jobs to women. Later, Nancy served as a media spokesperson for the Department of Defense responding to media questions about the continent of Africa, aviation safety issues and the fall of the Soviet Union.
Next, Nancy became the Commander of the United Nations Command (UNC) (Rear) located in Japan, the first woman to hold this position, from 1998 – 2000. Six countries: Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand, Philippines, and Thailand were members. The mission was to maintain the Status of forces agreement (SOFA) that permits the UNC to retain logistic organization and staging links in Japan. The main United Nations Command Headquarters was in Seoul, Korea. The UNC was established under the mandate of the United Nations Security Council with national military forces to support the Republic of Korea (South Korea) during and after the Korean War ended.
She coordinated ship and aircraft visits from the member countries to UN designated bases in Japan. During this time a Canadian aircraft carrying the Minister of National Defence and staff landed at Yokota Air Force Base and remained a couple of days to conduct business with embassy and government officials.
Nancy’s final international assignment was at NATO’s military arm, 2001 – 2003, in the village of Casteau, near Mons, 30 minutes down the road from NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. During this time, she worked as the Deputy Public Affairs Officer sharing the NATO story with media and community members. She worked with a number of Canadian officers assigned to the military headquarters. During this time NATO allies militarily intervened in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom to deny al-Qaida a base of operations. And a number of new countries were members of the Partnership for Peace program necessary to complete before consideration for official NATO membership. After the 911 terrorists attack on the United States, Nancy appreciated the large number of NATO Allies who approached her to say how sorry they were that this had happened to the U.S.
Nancy retired at the rank of Colonel in 2005.
- Colonel Nancy Burt receives the U.S. Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal, In Defense Press Office, Pentagon, Washing ton, D.C. 1998
- Major Nancy Burt at Giebelstadt Army airfield, Wurzburg, Germany 1986.
- 2nd Lieutenant Nancy Burt at Helicopter Maintenance Test Pilot Training, Fort Eutis, Virginia, 1977
- Colonel Nancy Burt receives award at New Sano Hotel, Tokyo in 2000 As she departs UNC (Rear) for new assignment
- Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Bldg. 2002
- Kingston Delegation in Scottsdale Arizona USA 2024
- Major Marie Rossi’s Headstone in Arlington National Cemetery
Congratulations to Retired Colonel Nancy Burt on a distinguished career with the U.S. Army infrantry,
as a helocopter pilot, and as an international affairs specialist. Her considerable contributions to helping maintain U.S. presence for world peace is meritous.
Thank you to Nancy for continuing to maintain contributions to peace via the iInternational Sister Cities Program founder by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Congratulations to Retired Colonel Nancy Burt on a distinguished career with the U.S. Army infrantry,
as a helocopter pilot, and as an international affairs specialist. Her considerable contributions to helping maintain U.S. presence for world peace is meritous.
Thank you to Nancy for continuing to maintain contributions to peace via the International Sister Cities Program founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.