Oral History Interview with Deanne Shulman, 1984 July 22

Deanne Shulman discusses being the first female smokejumper at the McCall, Idaho base from 1981 until 1984. She talks about the difficulties she faced as a woman jumper, such as feeling like she needed to prove herself to her male colleagues. Shulman tells of the camaraderie of the jumpers regardless of sex, due in part to the physically demanding nature of the training. She shares experiences on fire jumps and describes how she fought to change the height and weight requirements for smokejumpers. Shulman also stresses the need to recruit qualified female candidates and offers opinions on how that can be accomplished.