Between 1980 and 2008, 3,245 women graduated from West Point and have served selflessly in the Nation’s armed forces. Most of them, whether or not they still wear the uniform, are ordinary women with extraordinary stories of perseverance and integrity. They are soldiers and wives, mothers and daughters. They are doctors, lawyers, teachers, clergy and […]
Tag Archives | Military
Honored Role Series (Part 1): Odessa Maxwell — An inner journey looking outward
October 23, 2009 in Role Models
This is the first installment in the weekly Honored Role Series. Odessa Maxwell is the story of a soldier turned poet. A study of complexities and contrasts, Odessa Maxwell describes herself as an unusual woman. Born in Germany to a Japanese mother and African-American father, Odessa grew up in the south. The family settled in […]
We Can Handle the Truth
October 1, 2009 in Issues
Lt. Dan Choi and I co-authored an article published in The Daily Beast and Global Grind that gender and orientation are not relevant to the military mission. A soldier is a soldier. Despite a persistent “macho” mythos, it is becoming clear that neither gender nor sexual orientation is directly pertinent to a soldier’s ability to […]
“Women in Combat: An American Story” NY Times August 19, 2009
August 20, 2009 in Character
This letter to the Editor of the New York Times appeared in both the on-line and print versions of the New York Times on August 19, 2009. To the Editor: The topic of women in combat remains controversial. Conventional wisdom and current law prevent women, no matter how able, from serving in units with direct offensive combat […]
They told, They’re out!
May 11, 2009 in Issues
1st Lt. Dan Choi, 2002 West Point graduate, Arabic linguist and Iraq War veteran, is being fired from the United States Army for publicly announcing that he is gay. In the Army equivalent of a pink slip received by postal mail on 23 April 2009, Choi was informed of his firing because of what he […]
A Few Good Women
December 17, 2008 in The Book
Porcelain on Steel: Women of West Point’s Long Gray Line was borne out of my experience as a high school volleyball coach in 2004. Concerned with whom some of my athletes admired and considered role models, I began thinking about some of the women with whom I went to school and served along side in […]
Women in Combat — Just Doing Her Job
December 5, 2008 in Role Models
The topic of women in combat remains controversial. Conventional wisdom and current law prevent women, no matter how able, from serving in units with direct offensive combat missions — Infantry, Armor, Artillery and Special Forces. The justifications for this exclusion include that women are not fit for combat and battlefield stress because they lack the […]