Many people that are the first to do something significant in history are rarely taken seriously when they begin their pursuit. It’s only after the feat is accomplished and they’re proven to be historically correct that they get their just due.
From a very early age, Nicole Malachowski knew what she wanted to do when she grew up; she wanted to be an Air Force pilot. There was only one detail that stood in her way of making that dream a reality.
“Back then it was against the law for women to be fighter pilots.”
Nicole Malachowski
Her Road To Making History
Malachowski was born in California, and she was not bashful about her ambitions during childhood. When she told people about her goals, they were met with general positivity, but she acknowledged they may have had other thoughts in the back of their minds.
“Nobody batted an eye, but they were probably thinking ‘sure, little girl. You’re going to be a fighter pilot someday,” she said. “As I was growing up, they realized I was maniacally focused on it.”
Her goals never wavered, and the third generation servicemember’s determination to make them happen never diminished. She even knew the exact plane she wanted to fly, an F-4 Phantom.
“I saw this plane at an air show that was low and fast. I had to cover my ears because it was so loud, and I could feel it in my bones when it flew by.”
Malachowski called this moment one of her earliest childhood memories and vividly remembers shaking with excitement.
“I knew that I wanted to do that someday.”
The law that was in place then would have made that dream impossible. However, it changed in 1993, and by this point, her family had relocated to Las Vegas, NV, which was the home of the Air Force Thunderbirds. The only bad news was that the F-4 Phantom had been retired prior to that.
“I was devastated,” she recalled with a laugh.
Nonetheless, that change in the law combined with what Malachowski called “timing, luck, and circumstance” was all she needed to run through. After graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1996, she went on to fighter pilot training.
By 1998, the long journey paid off. The plane she got to fly was an F-15E Strike Eagle. It may not have been the same plane that she envisioned, but she recalled the first time she got to fly that aircraft like it was yesterday.
“I didn’t realize how big the aircraft was and how long the ladder was to climb into it,” she recalled. “When we went up, the instructor took control of the plan. I thought I messed up, but he told me to look around and take the moment in because that little girl’s dream came true. I will never forget that moment and the gift he gave me.”
Malachowski went on to make history as the first woman to fly on any Department of Defense military jet demonstration team when she joined the Thunderbirds in 2005. She was also a pilot instructor and made sure to give each pilot she worked with the same opportunity.
An Unexpected Career Conclusion
Fast forward several years later and Malachowski had went on to do much more in her career, including being a White House Fellow from 2008-2009, served on the Presidential Transition Support Team, and even took command of the 333d Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina in November 2011. By 2013, she was on to Naval War College in Rhode Island as a student. In 2015, she became the Executive Director of the White House’s national ‘Joining Forces’ program, working under then First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
However, she was struggling physically along the way. In 2012, she fell sick but defiantly kept working because she didn’t want to be grounded. However, the symptoms didn’t pass. Upon noticing a rash on her right hip, she finally went to the doctor. The words he told her still echo in her ears to this day.
“The doctor said, ‘we don’t have Lyme disease in North Carolina.”
Malachowski called that the moment she became chronically ill forever. However, it turned out to be even more serious than that. After symptoms came and went over the next four years, including when she was bitten by a tick while in Rhode Island, multiple misdiagnoses, and seeing 24 different doctors, she finally was diagnosed with late stage, neurological, Tick-Borne Illness. That led to her medical retirement on December 29, 2017.
“No retirement ceremony, nobody from the Air Force called,” she stated. Despite that, she only had one regret in her career.
“I wish I would’ve known my last flight in the E-15 was going to be my last flight.”
Doing All She Can Now
Malachowski’s forced retirement went far beyond her military service. It shifted her entire life, including how active she is and can be. She is bedridden most of the day and occasionally has trouble reading or writing, with memory retention, and even maintaining balance occasionally, all side effects of her illnesses.
Instead of dwelling on what she can’t do, she simply does the best she can with what she is still able to do for herself and her health.
“I can go on walks, do light yoga, and I will still go on hikes with my family, but I stop halfway so they can keep going,” she explained. “If I do go all the way, which I may do once every six months, I’m bedridden for two or three days after.”
NICOLE MALACHOWSKI
Malachowski also enjoys fishing and even highlighted catching two golden trout on a recent trip. She schedules time in bed during the afternoon so she can be rested for the remainder of the day to be with her children and husband, also retired from the Air Force.
Aside from physical health, she felt she had lost her identity when her military career ended. She was unsure of how she was going to move forward and support her family, but what she did know is that whatever she could do had to be a service for others.
“The words that kept coming to mind were ‘yield to overcome.’”
That decision led to her career now as an advocate and public speaker to increase awareness of tick-borne illnesses. There are over 20 that can be transmitted in North America, far more than Lyme disease on its own. That is one of many facts she shares to educate people that have her at their events.
Aside from speaking, she works to increase awareness by taking advantage of every opportunity possible. That includes recently being able to walk the runway during New York Fashion Week to increase awareness, which was an opportunity she never anticipated but was grateful to have.
“The idea that we could use that iconic platform to shine a light on the problem, you can’t pass that up,” she said. “It was ironic to me that I went from being on one runway to another, but I was there to represent those that couldn’t be there. I had never met a group of more friendly, kind, strong, and compassionate people.”
Malachowski’s life and careers continue to inspire and show others what they are capable of. Through her example and experience, she proves that dreamers are not limited to dreaming alone. They can do far more than they think, and she tries to share that wisdom every time she has an opportunity to serve in her new role.
Whether someone is trying to make history, overcome serious adversity, or simply change their lives for the better, Malachowski hopes those that listen to her will find those in their own lives that are supportive. She also offers advice that may help them through those inevitable moments of doubt like those she felt in the past.
