Fighter pilot in charge of Navy physiological episodes office

Navy Capt. Sara "Clutch" Joyner has been selected for rear admiral and will lead the aviation physiological episodes effort at the Defense Department, the Pentagon recently announced.

Joyner is currently serving as Navy Senate liaison director. She graduated from the Naval Academy in 1989 and piloted the A-4E Skyhawk in the Philippines and Puerto Rico. In 1993, Congress repealed the law barring women from combat ships, and by 1996, Joyner was a fighter pilot flying the F/A-18 Hornet.

In 2007, she became the first woman to assume command of an operational fighter squadron. In 2013, Joyner was named the first female carrier airwing commander.