Milestone Is Marked in Point Mugu Ceremony : New command: Navy Cmdr. Rosemary Mariner becomes the first woman in the U.S. armed services to lead an operational air squadron.

Crediting her success to “simple perseverance,” Navy Cmdr. Rosemary (Sabre) Mariner assumed command Thursday of a squadron of jet pilots at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, becoming the first woman in the U.S. armed services to lead an operational air squadron.

As an occasional jet boomed overhead, Mariner took over leadership of the squadron from Cmdr. Charles H. Smith in solemn change-of-command ceremonies not far from the tarmac of the air strip.

In a brief speech, Mariner, 37, who was the first woman military pilot to fly tactical jets and front-line attack planes during the 1970s, recalled being one of the first eight women accepted for military flight training 17 years ago.

“We never accepted that it was OK for ‘girls’ to accept a lower standard, to expect less of or for themselves than men,” Mariner said. “Like so many of life’s achievements, the key is simple perseverance.”

The 300-member, shore-based squadron, nicknamed the “Flashbacks,” provides simulated hostile electronic warfare for Atlantic and Pacific Fleet training exercises. The squadron is nearly one-third female.

Although federal law prohibits women from performing combat duty, Mariner cited the great strides made by the more than 200 women who have earned Navy aviator’s wings--including five who lost their lives.

“The things that were burning issues of my generation--flying jets, carrier qualifications, and going to sea--are now routine events for women entering naval aviation,” Mariner said. “Our major accomplishment which we pass to them is equal flight training. This was obtained not so much by any great talent as by audacity and tenacity.”

But Thursday, she expressed regret that she had not seen combat duty like her husband and fellow officer, Lt. Cmdr. George Thomas Mariner, now stationed at the Pacific Missile Test Center, who she said “has been my eyes in a world that I am not allowed to see firsthand.”

In an earlier interview, however, Mariner expressed optimism that women will see combat duty by the end of the decade.

“It’s no longer an issue,” she said. “It’s going to happen as a result of the demographics. The choice will be either drafting males or accepting females” for combat.

In accepting her new duties, Mariner thanked many of the senior male officers with whom she has served, saying that they persuaded her to remain in the Navy years ago when, faced with the difficulties confronting women and the lure of a lucrative career as a commercial pilot, she considered resigning.

“Most of them are combat-experienced aviators who, for various reasons, chose to help female naval aviators by opening policy doors that created new opportunities in the face of stiff and often emotional opposition,” Mariner said. “Because of them I owe a tremendous debt that can only be repaid by doing the same for other young men and women that need just a chance to perform.”

Mariner, an 18-year Navy veteran, also thanked pioneer women aviators such as the Ninety-Nines, a group of professional female fliers founded by Amelia Earhart, and the WASPS, or Women Air Force Service Pilots, women who served during World War II. She referred to pioneer women aviators as “the real first women aviators.” At least eight WASPs were present at the ceremony, at Mariner’s invitation.

The San Diego native also thanked her mother, a former World War II Navy nurse.

As the entire squadron stood at attention, Mariner’s husband pinned the “golden wings” of a squadron commander to her uniform, lightly thumping the pin once it was in place, in what Mariner later called a Navy tradition at change-of-command ceremonies. Mariner also received official use of an A-7 attack plane, although she can fly any plane on the base.

Rear Adm. Steven R. Briggs, commander of the Pacific Fleet’s Light Attack Wing, called the ceremony “an historic moment in naval aviation.

“Rosemary Mariner is not here today because she is a woman,” Briggs told the crowd. “She is not here today because she is a fine naval aviator. . . . Cmdr. Rosemary Mariner is here today simply because her career is marked by distinguished exemplary performance as a superb naval officer, and she is taking merely the rightful place that that performance has earned her.”

Female Navy aviators at the ceremonies extolled Mariner’s leadership abilities and the significance of the event.

“It’s kind of overwhelming to me--I’m so incredibly proud of her,” said Lt. Cmdr. Tricia Beckman, 37, who flew from St. Louis for the ceremonies. “She gives credit to her mentors, but she’s also one herself. She’s an example for the rest of us.”

Vi Cowden, 73, a former WASP pursuit pilot who ferried planes from factories to their points of departure to the front lines, called the event “a great day for girls in aviation.”

Like other WASPs, Cowden said she has seen so many barriers for female aviators fall over the years that she thinks it’s just a matter of time before women are also allowed in combat duty.

“If they can do the job and are qualified there should be no discrimination,” Cowden said.

At a reception after the ceremony, Mariner expressed optimism that her installation as a female squadron leader is a precedent for similar Navy promotions for other women.

“It’s symbolic,” Mariner said. “I should be the first of many, and it will no longer be a newsworthy event.”