Kelly Flinn, author of Proud to Be: My Life, The Air Force, The Controversy, was born December 23, 1970 in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of 12, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from high school in 1989. On June 29, 1989, she entered the United States Air Force Academy and began her active duty career in the United States Air Force. She graduated from the Academy on June 2, 1993, then completed undergraduate pilot training at Columbus Air Force Base. In September 1995, she was a distinguished graduate of her B-52 formal training unit. She was then stationed at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota. On May 28, 1997, Kelly J. Flinn resigned from active duty in lieu of being court-martialed. Growing up wasn't always easy for Kelly. She was the baby of the family, with four older siblings. While at Catholic school, she tried to be the cute little girl she was supposed to be, but on the playground, she was a terror. At the age of 5, she joined her first soccer league, which happened to be a boys' team. Things stayed the same until she got to high school. She started to notice boys and start dating. No one in his family had ever talked to him about the “birds and the bees,” or even dating. Instead, independence, self-reliance, and strength were the most important things. If they had problems, they solved them themselves. That didn't serve her well when she found herself in trouble with the Air Force years later. (p. 9) When Kelly was 15, she went to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. She discovered how much she loved the space, challenge and control she felt. After Space Camp, she knew what she needed to do and how to do it. She was going to go to the Air Force Academy and learn to fly. She spent the next few years in high school studying, joining clubs and filling out applications. In late spring of her senior year, she finally received her acceptance letter. Then, a few weeks later, she received a letter from the Academy informing her that she was not qualified to become a pilot due to her poor vision. “I felt like I had been sent to hell after having tasted heaven” (p. 14), is how she described her rejection..