Lt. Cmdr. Jess "Intake" Phenning, USN, graduated from the University of Maryland and commissioned from the George Washington University Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps in 2009. She went to flight school in Pensacola, Fla.; Corpus Christi, Texas; Milton, Fla.; and Jacksonville, Fla., before entering the Fleet as an SH-60B helicopter pilot.

She deployed to 5th and 6th Fleet, flying both the SH-60B and MH-60R for the "Vipers" of HSM-48, where she earned her callsign for starting two engines with the intake covers in. Following the Vipers, she was a flight instructor at the east coast HSM Fleet Replacement Squadron (FRS), the "Airwolves" of HSM-40.

From the FRS, she went to Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tenn., to serve as the aide to the commander. Jess was selected for HSM department head from there and returned to Jacksonville to the "Spartans" of HSM-70, serving as Training Officer, Combat Element ONE Officer-In-Charge, and the Operations Officer.

In 2022, she attended Navy War College in Newport, R.I.