Many people who are the first to do something important in history are rarely taken seriously when they begin their quest. Only after this feat is accomplished and proven to be historically accurate will they get what they deserve.
From a very young age, Nicole Malachowski knew what she wanted to do when she grew up; she wanted to become an Air Force pilot. There was only one detail that stood in her way of making that dream come true.
“At the time, it was against the law for women to be fighter pilots.”
Nicole Malachowski
Her path to writing history
Malachowski was born in California and was not shy about her ambitions as a child. When she told people about her goals, they were met with general positivity, but she acknowledged that they may have other thoughts in mind.
“Nobody blinked, but they probably thought, ‘Of course, little girl. One day you’re going to be a fighter pilot,’ she said. ‘Of course, little girl.’ “When I grew up, they realized I was maniacally focused on it.”
Her goals never wavered, and the determination of the third generation of soldiers to achieve them never diminished. She even knew exactly which 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 as it flew by.”
Malachowski called this moment one of her earliest childhood memories and remembers it vividly with excitement.
“I knew I wanted to do that someday.”
The law then in force would have made that dream impossible. However, this changed in 1993, and at that time her family had moved to Las Vegas, NV, home of the Air Force Thunderbirds. The only bad news was that the F-4 Phantom had already been retired before that.
“I was devastated,” she recalled with a laugh.
Nevertheless, that change in law, combined with what Malachowski called “timing, luck and circumstances,” was all she needed to get through it. After graduating from the Air Force Academy in 1996, she completed fighter pilot training.
In 1998 the long journey paid off. The plane she was allowed to fly was an F-15E Strike Eagle. It might not have been the same plane she imagined, but she remembered the first time she got to fly on that plane like it was yesterday.
“I didn’t realize how big the plane was and how long the ladder was to climb into it,” she recalls. “As we went up, the instructor took over the plan. I thought I messed up, but he told me to look around and absorb the moment because that little girl’s dream came true. I will never forget that moment and the gift he gave me.”
Malachowski made history as the first woman to fly on a Department of Defense military jet demonstration team when she joined the Thunderbirds in 2005. She was also a pilot instructor and made sure every pilot she worked with had the same opportunity.
An unexpected career conclusion
Fast forward several years later and Malachowski had done much more in her career, including White House Fellow from 2008-2009, member of the Presidential Transition Support Teamand even took command of the 333d Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson AFB in North Carolina in November 2011. In 2013, she attended the Naval War College in Rhode Island as a student. In 2015, she became executive director of the White House’s national Joining Forces program, where she worked under then-First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden.
However, she struggled physically along the way. In 2012 she became ill, but she continued to work defiantly because she did not want to be under house arrest. However, the symptoms did not go away. When she noticed 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.’
That’s what Malachowski mentioned 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 being bitten by a tick in Rhode Island, multiple misdiagnoses and visits to 24 different doctors, she was finally diagnosed with a late-stage neurological tick-borne disease. That led to her medical retirement on December 29, 2017.
“No retirement ceremony, no one from the Air Force called,” she stated. Despite this, 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.”
Now doing everything she can
Malachowski’s forced retirement went far beyond her military service. It has changed her entire life, including how active she is and can be. She is bedridden most of the day and occasionally has difficulty reading or writing, retaining her memory and occasionally even keeping her balance, all side effects of her illnesses.
Instead of dwelling on what she can’t do, she just does her best with what she can still do for herself and her health.
“I can go for walks, do light yoga, and I will still go for walks with my family, but I will stop halfway through so they can keep going,” she explained. “If I go all out, which I do maybe once every six months, I’ll be bedridden for two or three days afterwards.”
NICOLE MALAHOWSKI
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 the rest of the day to be with her children and husband, who is also retired from the Air Force.
Aside from her physical health, she felt she had lost her identity when her military career ended. She wasn’t sure how to move on and support her family, but what she did know was that everything she could do had to be a service to others.
“The words that kept coming to my mind were ‘giving in to overcoming.’”
That decision now led to her career as an advocate and public speaker to raise awareness about tick-borne diseases. There are more than two dozen that can be transmitted in North America, far more than Lyme disease itself. That’s one of the many facts she shares to inform people who have her at their events.
In addition to speaking, she works to raise awareness by taking advantage of every possible opportunity. That includes recently getting to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week to raise awareness, an opportunity she never expected but was grateful for.
“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 was going from one runway to another, but I was there to represent those who couldn’t be there. I had never met a group of more friendly, kind, strong and compassionate people.”
Malachowski’s life and career continue to inspire others and show what they are capable of. Through her example and experience, she proves that dreamers are not limited to dreams alone. They can do much more than they think, and she tries to share that wisdom every time 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 to her will find people in their own lives who support her. She also offers advice that can help them through the inevitable moments of doubt, as she has felt in the past.
“Believe those who believe in you.”
For more about Malachowski, visit her website and follow her on Instagram.
M&F Senior Military Editor Rob Wilkins contributed to this article.
