Two Years Ago, I Finally Started Serving as My True Self But there she was, showing me her beautiful baby girl. I can't imagine having a baby without a doctor, running water or electricity. I asked her how old she was, and she said the infant was about 4 weeks old - meaning she had been born either during or in the days after the hurricane. There was a woman about my age (I was 22 at the time) with a very young baby. The amazing resilience of the Puerto Rican people couldn’t compare to anything I had ever seen before. Mary-Elizabeth Pratt, Coast Guard, 2015-2019Īfter Hurricane Maria, I was deployed to do recovery operations in eastern and central Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico, I Met a Woman Who Gave Birth During the Hurricane He made a point to let me know he wouldn’t tolerate any discrimination toward me. I joined the Army in late 2011, and I was fortunate to have a wonderful drill sergeant, who made me feel comfortable during basic training and didn’t treat me differently. In 2011, my recruiter called me back and told me that the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy had been repealed. At the time, being openly gay in the service was forbidden.

Unfortunately, this meant I would have to hide that I am a lesbian. Joelene Schwebke, Army, 2012-PresentĪfter graduating from college in 2008, I really wanted to serve in the military. But I have found peace, which I have learned is all that matters. To this day, I still have nightmares of the assault. Not because I felt like a burden but because the pain I felt every day was nearly unbearable. I struggled with my self-worth more than I would like to admit. I was fortunate enough to go to counseling and see a psychologist and was found to have depression, anxiety disorder and PTSD - all stemming from the assault. It took about a year for the whole process to end. In 2015, I was sexually assaulted, and I waited until 2017 to report it because I was scared that I would not be believed or, worse, that I would be deemed a “troublemaker” in my platoon. Many Days, I Contemplated Suicideįlorence Shmorgoner, Marine Corps, 2014-Present Three women completed the course, and I personally got to watch one of them ace her leadership patrol and lead the pack like it was second nature. I was part of a group of servicewomen attached to the three phases of Ranger School and walked the lanes with the Ranger students. These efforts helped to change the combat exclusion ban on women in direct ground combat and ushered in the opening of all positions for women in the armed forces. In 2015, I assisted with the integration of women into Ranger School for the first time in history. Not Many Women Get to Do What I DoĬhief Petty Officer Stella Sierra-Chierici, Navy, 1999-Present

Below is a selection of the more than 650 submissions we received. We left it to them whether to share their accomplishments, the challenges they faced or something unforgettable from their time in the military. Hierl, who in 2018 became the first woman in the Marine Corps to command an infantry platoon.įor International Women’s Day, The Times asked servicewomen and veterans to send us the stories that defined their experiences in the military. She died in January from ovarian cancer, and her memory was honored last month with a flyover using all-female pilots. Rosemary Mariner, who was one of the first female Navy pilots in the 1970s and the first woman to lead a naval aviation squadron. Despite being overlooked, servicewomen are forging new career paths for themselves and the next generation as they enter jobs that were once closed to them. Their representation is small and growing only marginally - in 2007, women in uniform made up 14.4 percent of the force - and their stories tend to be ignored in favor of legacies left by men who have shaped the narrative of service to country. Across the armed services, women made up 16 percent of the active-duty military as of 2017 - by branch, that number ranged from 8.4 percent within the Marine Corps to nearly 20 percent within the Air Force.

Marine corps mos list for females