Blythe Coons MGSA’09 performing of Grounded, a one-woman play about an F-16 fighter pilot

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Photography: 
Nina Swan

At the invitation of Colonel Mark C. Anarumo RC’94, SCJ’99, GSN’05, a professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Blythe Coons MGSA’09 gave a performance of Grounded, a one-woman play about an F-16 fighter pilot who is grounded when she becomes pregnant and reassigned to fly combat drones from the Las Vegas desert. Operating the impersonal technology responsible for carnage half a world away leads to her growing misgivings as she goes from self-assured pilot to basket case. Coons, who had been appearing in the role at the NC Stage in Asheville, North Carolina, later joined a panel with four pilots active in the drone program to discuss the ethics of drone warfare.