Women in Aviation History: VADM Vivien Crea

by Liz Booker

For Women’s History Month, I am highlighting a woman in aviation history who had a significant and lasting impact in my life. Vice Admiral Vivien Crea was many firsts in the Coast Guard, and she was the first female military officer to rise to second in command of any U.S. Military Service. She was also down-to-Earth, personable, and accessible to me as a junior pilot making my way in my career.

In 2002, as a junior Lieutenant in my first aviation tour, I attended the annual Sea Services Leadership Symposium in Washington, D.C. I’d been a mother on Active Duty for ten years, and I showed up to the event five months pregnant with my second child. At the time, senior military women were demi-god/aliens to me. None of the women I had been exposed to had families, and Admiral Crea was no different. So, when she took the podium as a featured speaker, I didn’t feel connected with her in any way other than she was a Coast Guard pilot and a woman, but in a stratosphere far beyond anything that was possible for me. She was another one of those extremely competent, highly professional women who dedicated her entire being to The Organization, and I could not see myself in her.

I’m not sure what she talked about for most of her speech, but at some point, visibly uncomfortable, she confessed, “My biggest regret is that I waited twenty years to marry my Flight School sweetheart, and that I never had children.” This one, simple, but very personal statement—a rare moment of vulnerability offered by a senior officer to a group of junior military women, the likes of which I’d never seen—completely changed my opinion of her, and my belief in what was possible for me. It instantly made her human to me, and if she—a mere mortal—could soar so high, maybe I could, too. I never worked directly for her (and I certainly never got as far as she did), but I had many more opportunities to be inspired and personally encouraged by her, and to attend her retirement ceremony in 2009. I was keenly aware that Admiral Crea was making history, and I was grateful to witness it.

That moment in 2002 did more than help me believe in my own potential—it seeded my belief in the importance of seeing someone who ‘looks’ like you succeeding at something to believe you can succeed at that thing. This seed grew and blossomed throughout the rest of my career.  It drove the ways in which I chose to use whatever influence I had to be an example for the women coming behind me, and to create opportunities for other women to connect with whatever ‘success’ looked like for them to soar to their own potential. It is what motivated me to want to write books featuring women in aviation for children and young adults, and it is at the core of this entire effort to make our stories accessible to as broad an audience as possible.

In 2010, the year after Admiral Crea retired, she was inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame.  Over 120 Coast Guard aviators attended that year’s annual conference, where we celebrated Admiral Crea’s accomplishments with thousands of other women in aviation.

Thank you, Vice Admiral Vivien Crea, for clearing the path for those of us who came behind you, and for the personal sacrifices you made to do so. Semper Paratus!

Below are the WAI Pioneer Hall of Fame citation, and a recent Coast Guard Facebook highlight describing her career in more detail:

Year Inducted: 2010

Vice Adm. Vivien Crea is the most senior ranking woman in the history of the United States Coast Guard whose career consisted of the following firsts: First female Aircraft Commander in the U.S. Coast Guard; first female Military Aide to the President; first female to Command a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station; first female Executive Assistant to the Commandant of the Coast Guard; first female selected as Rear Admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard; first female appointed as Vice Admiral and first female of any Military Service to be appointed Second in Command of the military force. In addition, she is the first female to be awarded the Coast Guard’s Ancient Albatross which honors the Coast Guard aviator on active duty who has held that designation for the longest time.

Coast Guard Office of Emergency Management Article:

As Women’s History Month continues, we are highlighting Vice Admiral Vivien S. Crea, the 25th Vice Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard under Admiral Thad W. Allen. Crea held the second highest position in the Coast Guard, and she is the first woman to do so. She is the former Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, and was confirmed by the Senate to her historic post in June 2006. Crea retired on August 7, 2009, and was replaced by VADM David Pekoske. Crea was the first woman to attain flag rank in the United States Coast Guard.

In 2010, she became the first Coast Guard aviator to be inducted into the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame.

Crea earned a master’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as one from Central Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree from the The University of Texas at Austin.

As Lieutenant Commander, she became the first woman from any service, as well as the first service member from the US Coast Guard to serve as the Presidential Military Aide, where she carried the nuclear football for President Ronald Reagan for three years.

Crea assumed command of Coast Guard Atlantic Area on July 16, 2004. This post is the operational commander for all Coast Guard activities in an area of responsibility spanning five Coast Guard Districts, over 14,000,000 square miles (36,000,000 km2) covering the Eastern and Midwestern United States from the Rocky Mountains to Maine and Mexico, out across the Atlantic and through the Caribbean Sea, involving over 33,000 military and civilian employees, and 30,000 members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. She served concurrently as Commander, Coast Guard Defense Force East.

Crea previously served as Commander, First Coast Guard District, overseeing all Coast Guard operations in the Northeastern United States, from the Maine-Canada border to Northern New Jersey. Prior to that she served as Director of Information and Technology of the Coast Guard as Chief Information Officer and oversaw the Coast Guard’s Research and Development program.

Earlier assignments include Chief, Office of Programs in Coast Guard Headquarters, Commanding Officer of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, FL., Executive Assistant to the Commandant of the Coast Guard; Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Detroit; Operations Officer U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen, Puerto Rico; Coast Guard Aide to President Reagan; and many other operational assignments. As a Coast Guard aviator, Vice Admiral Crea has flown the C-130 Hercules turboprop, HH-65 Dolphin helicopter, and Gulfstream II jet.

Crea was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve upon graduation from Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Reserve Training Center, Yorktown, Virginia in December, 1973.