Chicago native Antonia Miggins is among the few female naval officers flying in a US military electronic warfare aircraft — during Black History Month, she shared her commitment to our country.
Cmdr. Antonia "Toni" Miggins is no stranger to danger. She quite literally flies in the face of it.
"Being able to think ahead and be prepared for different situations that may come up is crucial to not only being successful but being safe." "Whenever you get those moments where everybody in the mission is counting on you, or just you're really focused on doing the job right, you definitely feel the heart pounding a little bit more."Her first day of ROTC: ‘Shock’
Miggins knew she wanted to do something "fun and exciting" — but she didn’t know what until she joined JROTC in high school and saw the 1997 thriller "G.I. Jane." From that point on, she made up her mind to enlist., which coincidentally was her first day of ROTC during her freshman year at the University of Michigan.
"It’s definitely a little bit harder when you don’t have that background as a foundation," she said. "That brought with it its own level of steep learning curve and challenges, and really just getting to know the type of community I was getting myself into. But it is not impossible. I hope I’m a testament to that."She was essentially in a man’s world and became more of an anomaly — as a woman and person of color — as she rose up through the ranks of the Navy.