Celebrating women who paved the way for future generations

Photo By Catrina Francis | Join us this month in celebrating not only those strong women who paved the way in the armed forces, but those who enrich your very own life.  

DARIEN, IL, UNITED STATES

03.14.2023

Story by Catrina Francis 

416th Theater Engineer Command

Each year in March, we celebrate Women’s History Month, and I thought it was only fitting that I take time to reflect and pay homage to women who I admire and have become trailblazers in their respective fields.

As a young child, I knew my role models needed to be women who I had access to, not those who were unattainable. The first person I admired was my mother. She became a single mother when I was in the ninth grade, and my younger sister and I were supposed to be statistics because we were being reared in a single-parent household. Well, that was the furthest from the truth. She raised us with a strong foundation, values, and morals.

When I joined the military as an Army Reserve Soldier, I didn’t have any women as leaders. The first time I saw a woman in a leadership role was basic training. Imagine being 17 years old and you see a woman standing proud while wearing the traditional drill sergeant hat. I was intimidated because she looked mean and that was the first time I saw someone like her. She was the only woman I encountered in a leadership role during the three years I served in the Army Reserve. Once I joined the active Army, I encountered women in leadership positions, and those women shaped me as a Soldier. They showed me women were more than capable of leading during peace and war. I’m blessed to meet these women because they taught me more than leadership, they taught me lifelong lessons. Being around those women showed me that we too could make it in a male-dominated organization.

In 2021, women made up 17.3% of the active-duty force, totaling 231,741 members; and 21.4% of the National Guard and Reserve at 171,000 members, according to the Department of Defense. The year before, women made up 17.2% of the active-duty force and 21.1% of the Guard and Reserve. Since 2017, the percentages of women in the active-duty and selected reserves have risen 1.1% and 1.8% respectively.

Now, in the Army Reserve, we have a plethora of women serving in leadership positions. The Army Reserve’s top leader and Chief of the Army Reserve is a woman, Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels.

When Daniels took command in 2020, she became the first woman in the 112-year history of the Army Reserve to lead the community-based force of more than 200,000 Soldiers and civilian employees with a geographic footprint that includes 50 states, five territories, and more than 30 countries, according to U.S. Army Reserve Command.

Before Daniels, women were serving and making a difference in the military. During World War II, the late Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley served as the highest-ranking Black woman officer. She was in the first officer Women’s Auxiliary Corps in 1942, and in December 1944, Earley deployed to Europe, and she commanded the 6888th Central Postal Battalion. These women were instrumental to the war because they were able to ensure the delivery of millions of letters by clearing months of backlogged mail. Earley helped pave the way for future African-American women to serve in the Army, according to thenmusa.org.

Women in sports, mainly basketball, inspired me too because I played during a time when women weren’t really celebrated. Unlike young women today, we didn’t get the fanfare when playing sports. Yes, there were women basketball players, but they weren’t celebrated or given the same press. One of my favorite players was Cheryl Miller. I remember watching her being a leader for the University of Southern California. I used to say I want to be just like her. I know we played different positions, mainly because I’m vertically challenged at 5 feet 5 inches and Miller is 6 feet 2 inches; she was still my “shero” (female hero) of basketball.

I’ve also been blessed to encounter women who have become my friends as well as my mentors. When I look at their lives, it gives me hope. I see them as being strong and independent women, and it brings my life full circle. It makes me remember all the life lessons my mother taught me. I will always remember her telling my sister and me that we can do anything if we try and never give up. My upbringing has always made me remember it’s not falling that counts or defines you, it’s the getting up and brushing yourself off and moving forward that counts.

Join us this month in celebrating not only those strong women who paved the way in the armed forces, but those who enrich your very own life.

• Date Taken: 03.14.2023
• Date Posted: 03.14.2023 11:58
• Story ID: 440339
• Location: DARIEN, IL, US