Brianna Gravengood
| Brianna Gravengood | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sex | F |
| Birth date | 1995 |
| Mother | Shannon Gravengood |
For other persons named Brianna, see Brianna (disambiguation).
Brianna Gravengood was a daughter of Shannon Gravengood, who either didn't know or didn't disclose the father.
She has a half-sister, Rebecca Gravengood who is known as Becca.
Brianna and Rebecca were orphaned when their mother died in May 2007.
Mark (their Grand-Uncle) and Jackie Gravengood (their Grand-Aunt) took them in.SL1
Her nickname is Bree, and that was what she preferred to be called.SL6
In 2007 she was thin and short, with the small mounds of early-developing breasts just beginning to push bumps into her T-shirt. Her skin was almost pasty white, with long blonde hair dangling down her back. Mark thought that she was not going to end up very tall, but that she might be a real knockout in a few years.SL4
Her first experience of flying with Mark in Rocinante added to finding an old flight jacket he'd used as a halloween costume and hearing Mark's teenage dream of attending the Air Force Academy and becoming a fighter pilot inspired her to polish up the dream and make it her own.RFW6 Reaching for Wings describes her high school career and progress towards achieving that dream.
For her first day at Spearfish Lake Elementary School she dressed in skirt and blouse, with knee-high socks, and patent leather shoes, looking very preppy, to Mark’s eye. Becca told her that dressed like that, you’re just going to make people think you’re a stuck-up little brat.SL13 The reaction she got had hurt and still affected her four years later. She didn't want to stick out and be hammered down. Becca pointed out that she'd need to stick out quite a bit to get an appointment to the Air Force Academy.RFW6
She had difficulty accepting the change in circumstances and was very inflexible in her thinking. She didn't like that Mark and Jackie used the hot tub nude and only rarely joined them.
At thirteen she was flying Rocinante with Mark or Jackie along to keep it legal. She started flying a glider at Mount Vernon and flew solo on her fourteenth birthday. She could get her private glider license at sixteen, the same time she could get her student pilot license for powered aircraft. Jackie qualified as a glider instructor so Bree could legally fly from home under her supervision.RFW1
On an August day in 2010 Bree planned a glider flight to Warsaw and back aiming to complete the three requirements for the Soaring Society of America Silver Badge in a single flight. She had already achieved them in different flights.RFW1 The flight started well but the weather changed and she was struggling for altitude on the return. The only real airstrip on her route was at West Turtle Lake Club, a nudist resort, and she spent over half an hour scratching for any lift to avoid having to land there. She flew a spectacular racing finish to end the successful flight and was then upset to find that two classmates, Jared Wooten and Howie Erikson had witnessed it.RFW5
Spurred on by Becca's comment about not getting to the Air Force Academy if she was a wallflower she started to be more friendly with Autumn Trevetheck which led to forming a study group with Autumn, Jared and Howie. They agreed to help each other in any way they could and when Howie needed help staying away from Misty Frankovich Autumn offered to be his pretend girlfriend. Bree agreed to be the same for Jared in case Misty tried to take a run at him to make Howie jealous.RFW11
When she admitted her goal of the Air Force Academy her friends encouraged her and supported her to try running cross-country in the autumn and track in the spring. She did well and enjoyed cross-country and took advantage of the discount at the Women's Fitness Center to keep fit through the winter.RFW13 She ran well at Track meets at 880 and in the 1600 relay.RFW18 RFW35 She qualified for the state individual cross-country championship in her Junior year and took the individual championship the next year when she led the team to the team championship.RFW38
At Jared's suggestion she joined the martial arts sessions at House of Mayhem. At the end of her first session Gil Evachevski talked to her about being prepared for combat and the ability to act when needed.RFW16 After she'd dealt with Walt Lethbridge Gil debriefed her and told her she had proved to herself that she could act when needed.RFW35 Gil also taught her to shoot rifles and hand guns. Her skill with a rifle developed to the level that he said at West Point you’d be shooting expert.'
She took other opportunities to promote her goal when they came up. She visited her Congressman's "office hours" in Spearfish Lake to introduce herself and ask what he expected in an applicationRFW16 and again the next year to let him know she was still serious about the Air Force Academy.RFW32 She spent time talking and listening to Mark and Jackie's friend Colonel E.J. Seasprunk when he visited. She took up his offer of a visit to Scott Air Force Base to talk with some recent graduates of the Academy.RFW15 RFW33
On her sixteenth birthday she flew to Mount Vernon for her glider pilot license test and her power solo flight. She gave each of her friends a short flight in the two-seat glider once she had her license.RFW21
Her friends became her glider ground crew. They learned how to tow-launch the glider at home, how to take the wings off and put it on the trailer, and how to follow her on the ground.RFW20 Their support enabled Bree to achieve some of her soaring goals towards her Gold and Diamond badges. Mark took her to Deer Park Soaring Club in Colorado so she could try mountain wave flying and achieve her Diamond altitude gain flight.RFW33
She did receive a nomination to the Air Force Academy.RFW40 She did well, graduating third in her class and went straight on to flight school. Two years later she flew an F-16 in a finish gate manoeuvre over the Gravengood airstrip. RFW42
