HILL AIR FORCE BASE — Emily Thompson’s childhood career dreams were pretty standard — veterinarian, police officer.

But as she grew older, she says the vision slowly shifted to something else, eventually crystallizing with a desire to become an engineer.

That aspiration was never realized either, but the fighter pilot from Hill Air Force Base says it led her to something bigger. And ultimately, something that allowed her to make history just a few days ago.

“I went to college to be an aerospace engineer, which is what my degree is in,” Thompson said in an Air Force statement. “Then I sort of found out about the whole pilot thing, I could fly, instead of build the airplanes and it just kind of took off from there.”

Earlier this month, a group of airmen from Hill’s 388th and 419th fighter wings deployed to Al Dhafra Air Base, United Arab Emirates. The group is supporting the United States Air Force Central Command mission in the region. Thompson was part of the outfit, and a recent sortie she flew on that deployment made her the first woman in Air Force history to take the F-35A Lightning II into combat.

Micah Garbarino, spokesman for the 388th, said the deployed unit is made up of pilots and maintainers from the active duty 421st and Reserve 466th fighter squadrons and aircraft maintenance units, as well as personnel in other support functions. The group will perform close air support missions and supply air and maritime escorts for other U.S. military groups.

“This is my first deployment … so for me it was a pretty big deal, the first combat sortie for me,” Thompson said. “Of course being the first female, it’s a pretty big honor. There’s a lot of females who have come before me and there’s a lot of females already flying combat sorties in other platforms. So just to be the person who gets that honor, that first, it just meant a lot.”

On the day of her first combat sortie, the Air Force captain had an all-woman maintenance crew launch her historic flight. Airman First Class Ashlin Randolph, a weapons load crew member from Hill who was on the four-person team, called the moment “very empowering.”

With only about 6% of its pilot pool being female, the Air Force has actively tried to increase the number of women aviators. Last month the service removed minimum height requirements for officers who want to fly.

“We’re really focused on identifying and eliminating barriers to serve,” Gwendolyn DeFilippi, assistant deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, said in a press release. DeFilippi, who chairs the Department of the Air Force Barrier Analysis Working Group, said the measure is a “huge win,” for women.

Under the previous requirement, a would-be Air Force pilot had to stand between 5 foot 4 inches and 6 foot 5 inches, with a sitting height between 34 and 40 inches. The Air Force says those restrictions eliminated about 44 percent of the service’s female population between the ages of 20 and 29.

As for her platform, Thompson said she believes the future for women is bright.

“There’s a number of (women) already in the F-35 and I think the number is just going to continue to grow,” she said. “It’s a very supportive community, it’s very open, I think the opportunity for women to really excel in the F-35 is definitely there.”