Veteran Voices: Anne Scott’s reroute to service as a Marine pilot
Courtesy photo
Editor’s note: The Vail Veterans Program and the Vail Daily will highlight the service of an Eagle County veteran each month in Veteran Voices.
On a crystal clear morning on Sept. 11, 2001, the entire world was turned upside down as Islamic terrorists successfully orchestrated four suicide attacks utilizing commercial airliners in New York City and Washington D.C., killing almost 3,000 people.
The attacks generated a tsunami of uncertainty and anxiety, but for one college freshman, 9/11 cemented a decision to step up and help in defending her country. It was a decision that Anne Scott had never even contemplated, but she would be a Marine.
An aviation major at St. Louis University, Scott felt the call to serve her country as if terror were falling from the sky. The Marine component was the result of two recruiters with decidedly different approaches.
“I went to see a Navy recruiter,” Scott said. “He was a nice gentleman, but he basically said, ‘Well, you’re a female, and you want to be a pilot so come on in. That just felt weird to me, so I went next door to a Marine recruiter.”
Support Local Journalism
“Turns out he was the nicest, most humble guy,” Scott continued. “He said, ‘Sure, we’re the best and we’ve got a physical fitness test next week if you want to come.’ That’s what started my journey.”
Before 9/11, Scott had planned on becoming a pilot for Southwest Airlines and “living the good life.” Now, all she wanted to do was serve. When she informed her brother, who was in the Air Force and deployed right after the attacks, that she had signed up with the Marines, he could only muster a long, loud moan of, “Why?”
“Cause Marines are the best,” Scott replied.
Following her graduation, Scott shipped off to Officer Candidate School. It was just as she had anticipated from watching the movies, complete with the yelling and the encouragement to make good choices.
“Looking back on it,” Scott said, “I wouldn’t say it was the most fun I’ve ever had. I was in amazing shape, which was great. At that time, the percentage of females in the Marines was about 6%, officers were about 2%, and pilots were about 1%. I was so blessed to get the opportunity to even try.”
She was commissioned under the arch in St. Louis.
“Every Marine goes to Basic School,” Scott explained. “OCS is where you prove you can be a Marine, while TBS is where they teach you how to be a Marine. I met my husband Cody at Basic School. I was on duty with his best friend, and we always joke that I was the one in ‘cammies’ when we met.”
Initial Flight School in Pensacola, Florida, was next up for the now-couple. Following completion, Scott headed for Texas for Primary Flight School and then chose to fly helicopters, which had her circle back around to Pensacola.
“I’ve always wanted to be a helicopter pilot,” Scott said. “So I went back to Pensacola for Advanced Flight Training on the CH-53, which is the largest helicopter that the Marine Corps offers.”
“The 53 is mainly for troop transport, troop insertion and moving anything that needs moving,” Scott added. “We can pick up a Humvee, we can pick up an aircraft. We’d move prisoners and provide whatever the assault support needed. The 53 can do everything. It’s an amazing aircraft. It can carry 24 Marines in full battle gear. In Afghanistan, a lot of the aviators come up here to train with HAATS in Gypsum because of the high altitude.”
Cody was deployed twice to Afghanistan, while Anne only got to go once as she was pregnant with the couple’s son the second time around.
“It wasn’t the friendliest place I’ve ever been,” Scott said. “People shooting at you is no fun.”
“Being a female in the military is a unique experience,” Scott added. “It’s awesome, but you have to act a certain way. I was married and I wanted everyone to understand that I was married. The percentage of divorce in the military is unbelievable. We’ve been so blessed to remain together and trust each other and we have a really good relationship.”
Scott said one of the reasons she agreed to be featured in this space is to show other young women what a career in the military looks like.
“Growing up, I would have never considered joining the military,” she said. “It would have never crossed my mind. So I feel that if young girls can see that it’s OK. You can still be a girl, and you can still get married and you can still have kids and do all that fun stuff.”
“But to be clear,” Scott added, “being a mom is 150% harder than being in the military. Just think about it. When you deploy, you never have to do your laundry. That’s being done for you. You never have to worry about what’s for dinner. You just have to worry about flying, and that’s your job.”
The Scotts’ job these days is running Mountain Beverage in Gypsum, which the family purchased from Coors. They also started Eagle River Brewing with their partners almost two years ago, also in Gypsum. Scott still maintains a strong connection to the Marine Corps and to the many friends she made during her 10 years of active duty.
“The best thing about being a Marine is just being around other Marines,” Scott said.
You can almost hear her brother plaintively asking, “Why?”
John Dakin is a 2022 inductee to the Colorado Snowsports Hall of Fame.
