Many people who are the first to do something important in history are rarely taken seriously when they begin their pursuit. Only after the feat is accomplished and proven historically correct will they receive their justice.
From a very early age, Nicole Malachowski knew what she wanted to do when she grew up. he wanted to be an Air Force pilot. There was only one detail that stood in the way of making this dream come true.
“Back then it was against the law for women to be fighter pilots.”
Nicole Malakovsky
Her path to making history
Malachowski was born in California and was not shy about her ambitions during her childhood. When she told people about her goals, they were met with general positivity, but she acknowledged that they may have had other thoughts in the back of their minds.
“Nobody batted an eye, but they probably thought, ‘Sure, baby girl.’ You’re going to be a fighter pilot someday,” he said. “As I got older, they realized I was obsessively focused on that.”
Her goals never wavered, and the third-generation soldier’s determination to realize them never waned. He even knew the exact plane he 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 was flying.”
Malachowski called this moment one of her earliest childhood memories and vividly remembers shaking with excitement.
“I knew I wanted to do it someday.”
The law then in force would have made that dream impossible. However, that changed in 1993, and by this point, her family had moved to Las Vegas, NV, which was home to Air Force Thunderbirds. The only bad news was that the F-4 Phantom had been retired before that.
“I was devastated,” she recalls with a laugh.
However, this change in the law combined with what Malachowski called “timing, luck and circumstance” was all it took to pass. After graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1996, she went on to train fighter pilots.
By 1998, the long journey paid off. The plane he took to fly was an F-15E Strike Eagle. It may not have been the same plane he envisioned, but he remembered the first time he got to fly that aircraft like it was yesterday.
“I didn’t realize how big the aircraft was and how far the ladder was to get on it,” he recalls. “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 in the moment because this little girl’s dream came true. I’ll never forget that moment and the gift she gave me.”
Malachowski went on to make history as the first woman to fly in any DoD military jet demonstration team when she joined the Thunderbirds in 2005. She was also a pilot instructor and made sure to give every working pilot the same opportunity.
An unexpected career conclusion
Fast forward several years later and Malachowski had done much more in her career, including a stint in the White House from 2008-2009. Presidential Transition Support Teamand even assumed command of the 333d Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina in November 2011. Until 2013, she was attending the Naval War College in Rhode Island as a student. In 2015, she became the Executive Director of the White House’s national Uniting Forces program, working under then First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
However, he struggled physically along the way. In 2012, he fell ill but defiantly continued to work because he did not want to be grounded. However, the symptoms did not go away. It wasn’t until she noticed a rash on her right hip that she finally went to the doctor. The words he said to her still ring in her ears to this day.
“The doctor said, ‘We don’t have Lyme disease in North Carolina.’
Malachowski called it 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 a tick bite while in Rhode Island, multiple misdiagnoses and visits to 24 different doctors, she was finally diagnosed with late-onset, neurological, tick-borne disease. This led to her medical retirement on December 29, 2017.
“No retirement ceremony, no one from the Air Force called,” he said. However, she only had one regret in her career.
“I wish I had known that my last flight in the E-15 would be my last flight.”
To do what he can now
Malakovsky’s forced retirement far exceeded her military service. It changed 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 balance occasionally, all side effects of her illnesses.
Instead of dwelling on what she can’t do, she just does the best she can with what she can still do for herself and her health.
“I can go for walks, do light yoga, and I’ll still go on hikes with my family, but I stop halfway so they can continue,” she explained. “If I go all the way, which I might do once every six months, I’ll be bedridden for two or three days afterwards.”
NICOLE MALACHOWSKI
Malachowski also enjoys fishing and even highlighted catching two golden trout on a recent trip. She schedules time in bed in the afternoon so she can rest for the rest of the day to be with her children and husband, also retired from the Air Force.
Physical health aside, she felt she had lost her identity when her military career ended. She wasn’t sure how she was going to move forward and support her family, but what she did know is that everything she could do had to be of service to others.
“The words that kept coming to mind were ‘reception to overcome.’
That decision led to her career now as an advocate and public speaker to raise awareness of tick-borne diseases. There are over 20 that can be transmitted in North America, far more than Lyme disease alone. This is one of the many items she shares to educate people who have her at their events.
In addition to speaking, he works to raise awareness at every opportunity. This recently includes being able to walk the runway during New York Fashion Week to raise awareness, which was an opportunity she never expected but was grateful to have.
“The idea that we could use this iconic platform to shine a light on the problem, you can’t get past it,” he said. “It was ironic for me that I went from one catwalk to another, but I was there to represent those who couldn’t be there. I’ve never met a friendlier, kinder, stronger and more compassionate group of people.”
Malachowski’s life and career 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 so much more than they think, and she tries to share that wisdom whenever she has the opportunity to serve in her new role.
Whether someone is trying to make history, overcome serious adversity, or simply change their life for the better, Malachowski hopes those who listen will find those in their lives who are supportive. He also offers advice that might help them get through those inevitable moments of doubt like the ones he felt in the past.
