COMMANDER LAUREN GURNEY
Wyoming’s only female D.U.S.T.O.F.F. MEDEVAC pilot and Commander of G Co 2-211th Aviation Regiment
Wyoming’s only female MEDEVAC pilot, Lauren Gurney’s mission is to fly and save lives.
“It clicked 100 percent to be a MEDEVAC pilot and save lives. D.U.S.T.O.F.F. stands for Dedicated Unhesitating Support to Our Fighting Forces, and I feel that so inherently in my bones once I get into a helicopter.”
Lauren “Lolo” Gurney ready for take off. Lauren pilots UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters as an Army MEDEVAC D.U.S.T.O.F.F. pilot in command. D.U.S.T.O.F.F. stands for “Dedicated Unhesitating Support to Our Fighting Forces.”
Listen to Lauren’s story.
Wyoming’s only female Army MEDEVAC pilot and the first woman to serve as a Ground Communication Outlet (GCO) Commander in Wyoming, Lauren “Lolo” Gurney is a leader whose mission in aviation is to rise to the call and save lives. Piloting UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, Lauren’s flight journey had humble beginnings, first inspired by watching the movie Dumbo as a child. Between the ages of 9 and 19, she raced cars with her dad and worked as a mechanic in his pit crew. When she was 16, the Sports Car Club of America honored her with the title of “Mechanic of the Year.” Her grandfather, a veterinarian, Korean War paramedic, and former NASA Valkyrie project technician, pushed Lauren to pursue her flight, outer space, science, and medical interests. Enlisting in the Army at 17 years old, she graduated from military college in pre-medicine and, five years later, graduated from flight school.
Lauren has served multiple deployments abroad, including combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where she served as the officer-in-charge (OIC). She’s been an active member of the Wyoming National Guard as a UH-60 D.U.S.T.O.F.F. test pilot and pilot in command since 2016 and a MEDEVAC pilot since 2010. D.U.S.T.O.F.F. stands for “Dedicated Unhesitating Support to Our Fighting Forces.” Most recently, Gurney is the first woman in Wyoming to hold the title of Commander of G Co 2-211th Aviation Regiment at F.E. Warren Airforce Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
When she’s not piloting an aircraft or guiding her team, Lauren can be found expressing her creative joy as a self-taught baker and chocolatier. She’s owned multiple baking businesses over the years, including Jackson Hole Cake Co and CoCopellie Chocolatier in New Mexico. Baking is her outlet where she builds relationships around love and connection. She’s baked in every country in which she’s been deployed and loves baking for her community the most.
A self-taught professional baker and chocolatier, Lauren’s baking business is her creative outlet and joy where she builds relationships around love and connection. The former owner of Jackson Hole Cake Co, Lauren has also baked in every country in which she’s been deployed.
“It’s really wrapped up into love, and that’s so important to me when I bake. Sometimes that means putting on really good music and dancing around the bakery and not caring that I have flour to my elbows and my ear lobes. It’s having the bakery and the relationships be about love and connection.”
Commander Lauren “Lolo” Gurney, prepping her team for a training mission at F.E. Warren Air Force base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
“You are so powerful. One of the mantras I say to myself is, ‘Great big dreams, tiny little steps.’ And whatever those tiny steps are— whether it’s the college application, the military application, the volunteer group that builds houses and you want to be an engineer— trust every single dream that you have and chase them with abandon.”
Wyoming’s first Ground Communication Outlet (GCO) Commander, Lauren Gurney.
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