Women’s Equality Keynote Discussion

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Transcript

Aloha. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us Live for 25th Infantry Divisions Woman’s Equality Day program hosted by the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade. My name is Captain Makayla Stewart, and it is my honor to be the emcee for today’s observance. I would like to take a moment to recognize our distinguished guest, keynote speaker and panel members. We would also like to recognize all of our commanders, sergeant majors, service members, families and friends that are in attendance on Facebook live at this time. Lieutenant Colonel Casey Lee, battalion commander for third Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, will present the opening remarks and introduce our keynote speaker. Thank you, Michaela. Today we’re fortunate to celebrate women’s equality for this event. We will be focusing on women serving in the military with their challenges have been how they’ve overcome those challenges. How are Army benefits from women’s service and what we can do to continue to foster equality and inclusion in our ranks to begin? We’re very fortunate to have Major General Suzanne Var Islam is our keynote speaker after she concludes her remarks are audience which is you via Facebook live. We’ll be able to ask both her in the other panel members questions both during the panel and after. This should be a very interactive, an interesting discussion, and I welcome and anticipate your questions without further ado. Oh, introduce our guest speaker, Major General Suzanne Barr Islam. She’s currently the mobilization assistance. The commander of us and opaque calm located a Camp Smith here in Hawaii and that role she has served as both acting deputy commander and the acting chief of staff of us and opaque calm because we don’t have the benefit of hard copy programs for you. I’ll share some extra from her bio to give the audience a better idea of what her background is. General der Islam joined the Army Reserve is a private first class in 1986 She later commissioned is a distinguished military graduate in the Military Intelligence Corps in 1988 through the Army ROTC program at the University of Hawaii, Minoan. She has served in a multitude of leadership assignments, and I will list a few first Trailblazer Platoon leader, one of Third, eh, My battalion, company executive officer headquarters, one of 31 of third in my battalion division artillery Fire Support Intelligence Officer. Third I d Germany Between US two 29th Support Battalion Company Commander to 29th Military Intelligence Company G two of the 29th Infantry Brigade Battalion, Commander of the second Battalion to 98. Multifunctional training unit J two of Joint Force Headquarters. Why, National Guard Commander of the two 98th Regiment Multifunctional training unit Hawaii National Guards, Vice Cheese, Vice Chief of the Joint Staff and chief of the Joint Staff of Note. She established and lead the Joint Intelligence Center of Blood Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom three. She’s also a 2017 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Ma’am, thank you so much. Once again for taking your time today. Uh, we really look forward to hearing your remarks and learning from your experiences. Ladies and gentlemen, Major General Suzanne for Islam. Thank you so much, Casey. And thank you. All of you out there in our Facebook world. And General Gerard, if you’re on Thank you so much. And command Sergeant Major polio. So appreciate you taking the time out, Teoh, pause and remember this significant month this month along with our panel of distinguished Panelists here. It’s such an honor to be here with each and every one of you and all of you out there who took your time to make this happen. And those of you who took a pause out of your day on Facebook live to hear about what makes this month so special and what makes every day so special Having women as part of our force. I love the theme here with the 25th Infantry divisions, top theme, women breaking barriers. And we do have a panel of women breaking barriers here with us, and I’m so excited to hear their stories. You know, it’s interesting that this month we celebrate 100 years since the women’s right to vote in the United States, and I shared that with our commander, Admiral Davidson. And what’s even more fascinating is that women’s participation in the foundation of this country actually starts way before that. And it really was on Lee 100 years ago that the 19th Amendment was ratified and that women had that opportunity. And, of course it was just some women. Women of color were excluded, but it was the beginning of progress. The beginning of a dialogue of what role can women play in the building of our nation? But all the while we’ve known that women since the Revolutionary War, when we see images of Molly Pitcher for women who have joined the ranks of our our forces, Teoh establish our nation and under the guise of being a man. We’ve seen those stories, and if we look even to the Civil War, many people don’t know. But if those have you been to the U. S. Army War College, you’ll see in their dining facility this big picture of Dr Mary Walker. And she was the first woman to receive the Medal of Honor for all of the surgery she performed. But we don’t often hear about that story. There are many women during the Civil War, like our own, coveted with the latest movie out our Harriet Tubman, Harriet Tubman’s contribution not only to social justice but also her role as a spy and military service for the union forces. And many people don’t know about that until we saw the movie. Not that that’s how we let our history or just from movies, but I think we have events like this that remind us of the amazing role of women, you know. So women definitely built the nation alongside our brothers, fathers, uncles, sons and also sacrificed for this country. Women were mobilized in great numbers we saw during World War. You know, during World War, the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps, with more than 12,000 enlisting, had 400 casualties by the end of the war, that’s not something that we often talk about. Also, women worked for the Red American Red Cross and the United Service Organizations and jobs vacated by men and factories and transportation, and made up 24% of aviation plant workers for all of our aviators during World War. We think about it during World War Two, but we don’t often recognize that very early on the beginning of the century, we had many women involved. And in World War two is probably where we see the pivot women break breaking barriers. We have media and now people are aware. A total of 350,000 women served in the U. S. Military. More than 60,000 women served as army nurses and over 14,000 as Navy nurses. Some were even captured by the Japanese. 67 Army nurses were held as POWs for almost three years in the Philippines in 1942. Also, the army created the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942 and a year later the women’s Army Corps with a whack had more than 150,000 women who served. And for the wet west. Rest of the war wax were present in England, France, Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines. So this really created a real shift of expanding women and laid the groundwork for organizational duplication among the branches to expand the role of women in the U. S. Military. So we saw this continued work and some major groundbreaking events occurred in the 19 seventies, 1974. We started seeing women in ROTC 1975 women in our service academy, and this month celebrates that month that women were allowed to enter our military service academies in 1975 and the policies began to change. We started to shift, and we saw a significant number. During the Gulf War, 40,000 women served in 1991 during the Gulf War and engage with enemy forces on an unprecedented level and, as some of you know, more recent conflicts. In 2005 LeAnn Hester became the first female soldier to receive the Silver Star for exceptional valor in close quarter combat, which is a fascinating story when I was in Iraq and Ohio three. I remember receiving at the Joint Intelligence Center a series of pictures asking me if I recognize the pictures from the insurgents who were killed that day, about 30 plus who tried to ambush a convoy of MPs MPs who were escorting a convoy. And sure enough, those pictures did reflect the blad p X. You know, the coveted PX that we all know has the same chips and dip that every other fob had around Iraq. But what was interesting is that it indicated to me as an intelligence officer that potentially could have been a target. So the actions on that day of taking out those insurgents where the actions of LeAnn Hester along with her other MP crew, so had she, not I can personally feel a devotion and dedication to her and thanks and gratitude for what she did that day personally. Then again, we saw in 2008 Monica Lin Brown also received a Silver Star. So at an unprecedented level, we see these acts of heroism, which perhaps is not surprising to us. But perhaps is the first time it’s been highlighted in a way that we all can celebrate in our country can celebrate not just the military, you know, In 2018 I’m started 2015. The most monumental change and shift in our policy was that the secretary defense lifted the restrictions and the combat exclusion policy, which meant that meant that women and that’s just 2015. That’s five years ago could serve in all combat roles if they met the requirements. And I’m really grateful that not long after that I was able to ask General Milley, who at the time was the chief staff of the Army, now our chairman, what he was thinking because he was at the helm when that policy was changed. And I asked this question in a group of about 100 plus Army general officers, mostly male, about 10% for women in that audience. And he so graciously answered and said, You know, I got a lot of comments or heat if you can imagine, he He used some colorful words for that by some. But I can tell you, I I believe I don’t care if you’re purple, you’ve got horns. If you can do the job, that’s what matters to make our our Army strong. I’m not changing the standard, he said. But we are maintaining and opening it up to anybody who could meet that standard, which I thought was super encouraging for me and everybody in that room to hear our senior Army leader make that. And I know that General McConville again feels the same way. You know, for me, starting off joining the Army as a private in 1986 we actually had a separate basic training for men and women are drill sergeants were still male, and you rarely would find a female drill sergeant in that group to address the issues. And when I joined my future father in law, who was in the Army in 19 fifties, said, so are you part of the Women’s Army Corps? By 1986 the Women’s Army Corps was well gone and beyond, but that was the image and idea, and I remember you know what basic training You have to throw a grenade. And I remember those drill sergeants were always worried like Oh, no. Here comes that female basic training company. They gotta throw that grenade over that thing and they might not be able to do it. Well, what they didn’t know to was I was a catcher in my softball team of captain my softball. So I knew how to place the grenades. So they were pleasantly surprised that I could actually place them in the tires off in the distance. That really told me that day that people can judge you and not know where you come from and what your background is that maybe you have more than what they see you have up front. So that told me that day that despite what people think about you, that you just have to go with the the grit that you have to make it happen. You know, it wasn’t long after I went through ROTC and got commissioned as Second lieutenant, and my first unit was actually division artillery back then, in 1989 I was assigned in Germany and the third Infantry Division rock of the Marne. And, uh, when I got there at that time, women were not allowed to be in Infantry Brigades. You were not even allowed to be in the division. Talk forward. Um, so they put me in division artillery so you could go to support units. You go Division artillery. Those are your options. So I was still one of the very few females, so there were no accommodations, Of course. So you just learned how to manage as a fire support intelligence officer. But I’ve got to say that despite when I saw those orders, I thought to myself, Division are chilly. I’m an intel officer. I should be in the in my battalion where it’s coed. Not not here. And I thought, Oh, boy, I’m in for a challenge. And you know what? I was in for a challenge, but I had the support of those leaders and they were mostly male who saw a lieutenant and didn’t see a female young officer saw a new fresh second lieutenant that needed training and mentoring. And I was given that opportunity. So my message with that is for everyone. The majority of our military are made up of male leaders that you have to also raise Athena. There’s a book called Athena Rising, and if you believe that you want to make this military the best that it can be, then you need to be part of that mentoring Athena Rising. You know, if only 16% and even less than that, our senior leaders that you see right here on this on this panel, then that means it is obligation of every single leader and mostly male leaders to see the talent in every single soldier. And that includes female soldiers in our ranks. You know, I’m proud to say that eventually, as I, you know, as uh as my bio was red and I looked through all those opportunities, those were challenging opportunities. Um, but one of the biggest was going to us. Indo Pacific Command. It’s a joint command, and those of you don’t know it’s the largest and oldest combatant command. It spans from the California coach, the west coast of India. We deal with 36 nations, 14 time zones, and it’s the most populous region with four of the five security challenges in our national defense strategy. China, Russia, violent extremism, more natural disasters occur in this area than ever. And, of course, North Korea. So I the position I was in was the Strategic Plans and Policy J five mobilization assistant. No female had been in that position until I entered that position, and some had shared with me concerns because in that position you engage a lot with the Indo Pacific leaders who generally are male and women’s integration. And many of our partner nations and allies are still beginning in its beginning stages. So many thoughts, you know, it might be difficult, and in my mind I question that for a moment. But then I said, No, I’m gonna walk in there. I’m an American officer representing United States of America, and when I walked in those each of those situations, I realize that that’s how they saw me. If they didn’t see the insecurities or the messages that people told me who I am, they saw American officer because I believe that I carried that confidence with me. So no matter who you are male, female, whatever your background, whatever, your um, social background is that you can walk into any situation if you have that kind of confidence It doesn’t matter if you’re the first because you could be the first and the next person will no longer be the first. And it won’t be something spectacular anymore. You know, we talk about first a lot because because we’re at that phase where we just changed policy in 2015. So, really, to grow a general officer takes you about 30 years or a senior noncommissioned officer. It takes decades to do that. So we are a crux here where we have a pioneering change of ah, Young Lieutenant that’s on our panel today. That will be part of that change in the next several decades to see senior leaders with the kind of background that she has. You know, yesterday I led our own US Indo Pacific Command Webinar, and, um, I invited our first female ambassador assigned to us Indo Pacific Command. We’ve had a foreign policy adviser for adult Davidson, but she is was thief, former ambassador to Mongolia, and I invited her to the panel to speak about her experiences. Also had our director of of personnel for Indo Pay com, which is a huge task Navy Captain Yacht Co. And a pilot a K c 1 35 pilot, Air Force Major Lee and also a um, a public affairs specialists who was a logistician First lieutenant Colonel Spawn. They all were on my panel just like this. I was happy to highlight them on in a virtual environment since its cove in 19 right now that we’re dealing with, and I wanted to share with you some of their amazing insights that they provided me. And I share this because, um, you know, I didn’t get to share much about myself, but I was so thrilled to hear what they had to say, Captain Yacht Co. Said. Remember everyone that you belong, that you can contribute. And Major Lee said, remember those who came before us and be inspired by their example. In the past, Lieutenant Colonel Spawn said, remember the grit and determination that representation does matter that just by being in the room being example that sometimes those who come after us, it’s difficult to become what you cannot see. So that’s why I’m always amazed at people who achieve things. Even though no one came before them, they became they saw they had a vision, even without seeing a physical manifestation of someone standing there. They visualize themselves being there, an ambassador, Gold said. Really, we should be driven. If we’re driven by dedication to service, just like those who came before us, we can’t go wrong. We need to be confident in our abilities. And she also said, Never let you walk by a mistake. Don’t walk by mistake, which is interesting. That’s something General Dunwoody says in her book about not walking by a mistake. You know, I’m really proud to stand before you today. Being the mobilization assistant Toe Animal Davidson. I’ve been fortunate enough to sit in the role as acting chief of staff and the acting deputy commander, something that you know. I hope there will be a permanent female in that place one day, and I know there will, no matter how long it takes, all of us together can ensure that we tap in to the 50% of the talent that’s out there. General Dempsey, if you remember our former former chairman Army, he’s still very active. He wrote this book called Radical Inclusion, and he said, You know, if we dismiss 50% of our population, then we dismiss half the talent, half the ideas, half the innovation that’s out there. And I’m so grateful that our army recognizes the innovation and talent, the brotherhood and sisterhood that comes with bringing the whole team together. You know, we have moved from 10% to 15% to 16% now to 18% of our force as we attract all the talent, talent, talent that America has to offer. So with that, I thank you so much for the opportunity to talk to each and every one of you and to be a part of this amazing panel. And I think each and every one of you who took time to coordinate this and to be innovative so we can observe and celebrate those who came before us to inspire us into the future. So thank you so very much. Hello. Huh? Thank you again, man. That was a wonderful address. I learned a couple things both about the history of women in this military, particularly the World War One fax and the some of the improvements to the aviation. And then also from your own story, I think one take away I have from what you said is to be confident who? You know who you are, which is an American soldier and not worry about what other people think you are. So thank you so much for your remarks, man. That was That was quite wonderful. Now we’ll move on to the panel portion this discussion so not everybody is getting into position. What I’m gonna do is briefly introduce the other members of the panel who are sitting Teoh to left of Major General Jerusalem. First, we have Colonel Yolanda Matics. Chromatic currently serves as the chief of staff for the eight Theater Sustainment Command she commissioned into the Quartermaster Corps from Norfolk State University in 1996. She has served in numerous leadership in staff positions, including supply Platoon Leader, assistant bring get us for Forget us for Esteem Brigade Troops Battalion Executive officer, Eighth Army G four support operations officer, Battalion commander of the one 89th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. A quarter Matt Quartermaster integrator in the office of the Deputy chief of staff, G 357 She has been assigned to numerous places to include Fort Hood, Texas Debut, South Korea, Fort Stewart, Georgia Fort Drum, New York, Fort Bragg, North Carolina in the Pentagon, and she has also been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Chromatic says, Married to Colonel Landis Matics, and they have two daughters, Kourtney and Britney. Next to her, we have command start Major Quinn Brock. Command Sergeant Major Brock is currently the battalion Command start major of the Special Troops Battalion, 25th Division Sustainment Brigade. She listened Army in June of 1997. She has served in numerous logistics in leadership roles, including automated logistics specialists, material management, non commission officer, platoon sergeant, operation sergeant, first sergeant of two different companies and as the Third Sustainment Brigade Senior Logistics in Seo. She’s also been assigned to various locations, including Korea, Kuwait, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Germany, Fort Stewart, Georgia. Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Fort Bliss, Texas Candle or Afghanistan in Fort Benning, Georgia. Her deployments include four combat tours and one operational tour command. Sir Major Brock has one daughter, Livia, at the end of the table. We have Lieutenant Savannah Murray. Lieutenant Murray is a native of Binghamton, New York, and she has a 2017 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Upon graduation, she earned a degree in engineering psychology. It was commissioned into the Army’s orders branch. Her first assignment was as an automated platoon leader in the five 24th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion. She now serves as a distribution platoon leader in the second Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment Will founds. She has earned the Air Assault Badge, the Airborne badge in the Ranger tab that rounds out our Palin panel. And finally, I’d like to introduce are moderator for today’s panel. 25th Cabs, Very own Major Lucas Berg, Lucas Over to you Thank you so much. So ah, one of the patterns that emerges in ah, research on gender in the workplace is ah, is male confidence worm or more accurately, overconfidence. And I’m probably exhibit A in this regard because I leapt at the opportunity to moderate this panel on, then almost immediately discovered that I had virtually none of the qualifications required to do it. Um, but I think Colonel Lee and other leaders in the brigade for giving me this opportunity, and I feel so privileged to be able to join you on the stage and participated in what I’m sure will be a meaningful discussion. Um, my lack of qualifications is fortunately offset by my co moderator. So right right in front of me. Probably off camera for our Facebook audiences. Captain Michaela Stewart. Michaela is one of the medevac platoon leaders in our medevac company and Charlie 3 to 5. Um, she won’t concede. Concede this. She’s also one of the go to officers in our brigade and gets all kinds of fun assignments like this because we know she’ll deliver every single time. Fun fact. She also happens to be from Hawaii. Eso eso her. Her family’s from Pearl City. She is an army brat. But she was born here a trippler ondas a meta back a za medevac pilot. She occasionally now flies to and from Trippler with patients. So Makayla, thanks so much for co moderating with me today. Just orient everyone toe how we’d like to run the panel. I’ll kick us off with a few questions. But I’m hopeful that most of the subsequent discussion will be generated by our Facebook audience on. And I’d ask that as you as you hear something that ah, of interest or if you have a question for any of our Panelists that you post it Onda. We’ll get to as many of those questions as possible. Michaela is going to be sequencing those questions up to us as they come in. One thing to note is that we aspire to cover four topics today, so we want to talk about the progress that we’ve made with regard to women’s equality in our military. We’d like to talk about the current state of our culture. We’d like to talk about how we’re doing in terms of policy. And then finally, I would like to talk about prescriptions for individual behavior. So just know that if if you have a question, if you post it, we may not get to it immediately. Um, in the interest of being able to wrap up one conversation before before we jump into another. But know that we will try to get to as many as possible. One last thing I’d like to just note is that I hope that as a panel we can strike a balance between celebrating all the accomplishments that have been made and then also being clear eyed about the challenges that remain. Um, we we remain a great but in perfect nation, and I think the same is true of our army, were great, but in perfect army on. And I think if if there if there’s a spade out there, we should call it a spade. And I hope that we can do that over the course of the discussion today. Now that said, I would like to start off on a celebratory note on and talk about the long way we’ve come in recent years on, and I know General very Slim has already discussed a lot of it, but just two related to each of your individual experiences and careers. Lieutenant Murray, you reported a West Point in the summer of 2013 when you reported the combat ground combat exclusion rule was still in effect. That stated that women shall be excluded from units below the ground level or below the brigade level, whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground. When you entered West Point, no woman had ever served as a green Taber in the 1/60 Special Operations Aviation Regiment. No woman had graduated Ranger school. No woman had served in the infantry branch. No woman had served in a line unit in the Ranger Regiment, and no woman had earned her Green Beret and subsequently served in the Special Forces. We’ve come a long way. Our Major Brock, when you enlisted in 1997 women had not yet flown or crude modern U. S military aircraft in combat that occurred for the first time in Operation Desert Fox in 1918 98 during the enforcement of the no fly zone in Iraq. Crow Matics When you were applying to colleges in 1991 you would not have been admitted to the Virginia Military Institute. It wasn’t until 1996 that the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for V. M. I to exclude women from admission and General various lum. When you enlisted in 1986 no woman had ever held the rank of three or four star general. It wasn’t until 10 years later that Major General Claudia Kennedy pinned her third star And it wasn’t until 2008 that Lieutenant General and Dunwoody penned her fourth. So we have come a significant way. What I’d like to do now is transition to the first that were meaningful to you. So what? I’d like to do is just go down the panel and I’m I’ll ask each of you to share with the audience. What was the first that was most memorable? Most meaningful, most impactful. Most inspirational for you and ah, I’d actually like to kick us off with with Savannah, Murray. Thank you, sir. Um, I think they’re most memorable for me. Was definitely watching the first women graduate Ranger school. That was the first big drama, big breaking moment that I saw during my time at the academy. And I specifically remember looking back and seeing that on online and just being in all of these women and the barriers that they broke during that time for me, I think the most memorable moment was Staff Sergeant Kelly. She was the first enlisted actual member to complete Ranger school. And then there was sarin first class Simmons, who actually was the first African American to complete Ranger school. So those was definitely a momentous occasions for me doing my military career. So watch. So for me, a couple of em, it’s been a couple of things. Number one was, of course, like you already sent it stated, seeing General Dunwoody um, what was I was proud about seeing that was She also was the first battalion commander, female battalion commander in the 82nd Airborne Division, and also Lieutenant General retired Nadia West, serving as the first African American. Um, she was the first major general diverse lieutenant general in the first African nearest kin. Surgeon general. You know, I got a chance to, like you said, speak a lot on this, you know, for me, Um, in 1988 actually, when I got commission, I was able to go to the air assault school here. I was only female left. We started with eight, and, uh, I remember the black hat said to me, You know, I don’t know how I feel about this, but fortunately, they can’t come to Ranger school. I mean, that was literally the comment said to me, So I’m so proud to be to see you graduated from the Army Ranger school. And to see that first, I mean, because I remember that comment. It’s clear to me after I finished that 12 mile mark march and you get across and it’s just a casual ceremony on the field, but to see that and say, Wow, we’ve come such a long way. And to see General Dunwoody, I was able to see her at the National Defense University. She gave me a ride. Humble leader, a warrior. And to hear her story, I mean, it’s so inspirational. And non u. S. I got to meet her at General Brown. I mean, just same kind of grace and humility that we want in all of our leaders. I mean, and and, of course, being here with all of these amazing soldiers and warriors. Thanks. Thank you so much. Um, now, ah, question That kind of, ah speaks about the progress we’ve made and also the current state of the Army’s culture with regard to gender integration. Um, let me ask you this. What? What did your friends and relatives tell you about the army? When you first expressed an interest in serving, were there any words of caution that they that they passed along to you Were there any concerns that they had about your potential service? Um and then also, how would that? How would that differ from the advice you would give today to a daughter, a sister, a niece who is contemplating service in the army, General. Various limit surrendered, Like to start with you, and then we’ll kind of work our way back down. Well, I think I couldn’t, you know, touched on some of the comments of, you know, but I When I think back there, so many because, you know, you’re talking 1986 or transitioning, You’re in a Cold War. Ah, lot of comments. Ah, family members, You know, why do you want to go to airborne school? You’re trying to kill yourself. Do that. You still do the same thing as the man. You know, a lot of these kind of questioning your ability because they don’t see you in those roles in the movies, you’re not highlighted and forgetting that there were so many women who did these things. You know, I watched these amazing women support Army Air Corps support pilots that flew during World War two. And you see them there dressed up in these shorts, They have their hair done, lipstick on. They look like models, and they’re doing pull ups tons of them because I want to make sure that they can, you know, pull their shoot out of the aircraft and 30 of these women died, and and yet their own parents had to pay for their their bodies to come back across from England. You know, So you know, when I think about, you know, that’s they weren’t highlighted. So most people didn’t know the kind of service and kind of things that women could do. So I would say to the next generation of women that anything is possible. You are your greatest lost obstacle that, you know, if you just, you know, tune out the noise and stay focused. I think it’s very clear by hearing the stories of everyone here that if you do that, you could do anything. That’s your passion. Thank you. Um, for me, the only thing my family asked was, Well, why do you want to go in the military and kind of the same thing? Why do you want to jump out of a perfectly good planes? Um, but, um, for me, there wasn’t a lot of negativity or anything like that. You know, my father did have an issue with me coming on active duty because one thing that I didn’t state, it wasn’t in my, um wasn’t in my bio was I’m actually prior service. I was enlisted at first, Actually came in in 1990. And so my father just thought once I came on active duty, that was an issue for him. Um and so but what? I found out what I shared with him, What I shared with many of my nieces who followed me into all branches of the military. And I’ve told him that the up the military offered me, um, the ability to come in and number one to be the best me allowed me to learn about myself, things that I didn’t even know about myself. And so for them to come in if they wanted to, you know, come in, find out what they do well, but also use it. You know, it also helped to build their foundation. So that’s what I wish. Continue to tear. You know, women who are interested in coming into the military. So as for me, sir, I would say that my mom, she definitely supported me because I was 17 years old when I initially enlisted into the army on the delayed entry program. So she definitely supported me. We were not wealthy are financially stable enough for her to send me to college. And I wanted to help provide for the family. So I decided so, enlisted into the Army. Best decision ever in 23 years that I’ve now been here. What I would actually, um, tell other females or even my daughter, for that matter of fact, that you can achieve it. That’s what it is that you set out to do. Do not let anyone deteriorate from what you set out to do. You can achieve, be the difference and do whatever it is that makes you happy. So if my daughter was to say this is what she would want to do, um, I would support her in their regard. Um, for me, sir, When I first decided that I wanted to go to West Point and join the Army, they’re only comment that six out was to me with my mom asking me why I want to do that. And do I understand that I’m gonna have to do what they tell me to dio um bother. Like, overall is a good reaction from everyone. And my advice now would be anyone looking to join either Enlist or commission would be not to set barriers for yourself based on your preconceived exception conceptions of what you think you can achieve and go for whatever branch your mos that you want to do now that they’re all open to wonderful. Thank you so much. Um, as it relates to culture. Um, and this is this is a question for any of you. I’ll just throw it out there. And if you have something you like to share it, I’d invite you do. So what are what are the challenges of leading as a woman in a largely male environment? Um, how of those How those challenges developed you as a leader? Um, And then how did you How did you overcome them? Then again, I’ll throw that out there for anyone that wants to take it. Okay, I guess I’ll go for it here. So challenges culture. And, you know, I think at first when I was younger, it was this desire to, you know, it’s been 34 years, has been a while, was a desire to you recognize at that young age that it, you know, it is a predominantly male organization and, you know, growing up. I like Colonel Maddox. My, you know, my dad served and all my uncles, but they were all males, all male role models. Dad’s a Vietnam vet. All my uncles, a lot of them served in World War Two. So you think that the leadership style has to be that modeled after the male leadership. So and it’s only through evolution and time and experience and maybe making mistakes and allowing yourself to make the mistake that you realize that you have your there are obviously leadership principles. We know the L. D. R s HIV, those air those air not negotiable. But the way in which you implement that leadership style is your own, and each of us have a unique way of doing that. And sometimes culturally, uh, you know, there are, um some, you know, identifiable traits that tend to be with females, a more motherly type role. Many of us are mothers. We may, ah use that in a leadership environment, and in the past, I think that wasn’t as acceptable as it is today, and sometimes welcomed with empathy and compassion that sometimes not to say that other male leaders don’t have that. But I think times have changed, will receive male leaders taking on those characteristics and actually adopting some of them. And it’s OK that, yeah, you can have empathy. You should. As leader, where maybe 50 years ago, You know, the more Patton esque approach might have been more appropriate, and maybe at times it is. But knowing how to adjust and dial up, dial down, adjust to a certain situation used the different techniques, and that’s the beauty of using different cultures altogether. Is you have the full buffet of leadership possibilities instead of just one meal. Can imagine eating burgers and fries in the mess hall every day. No, you want the whole salad with every every every kind of option. And I think that’s what the diversity and culture and leadership styles offer for our military to make us stronger. Did I answer your question? You did, man. Are there any other Panelists would like Toa respond to that the challenges of leading in a largely male environment? Go ahead, spin. Um, I would say one challenge that sometimes might be real and sometimes might just be perceived is this. I need to constantly feel like you have to prove yourself. Um, even still, there’s this feeling that you constant have to show that you’re as fit or as the tactical leaves like sound as your co workers. Just because you know that you’re always kind of under a different microscope, and I think a lot of that sometimes not really. It’s just something that has been ingrained in the past that we have develop this identity about. And that’s something I’ve gathered from talking with other, uh, leading female leaders in the military of something that seems to be pretty across the board. Savannah, if you don’t mind, I’d just like to talk more about that. Um, how many women had graduated from ranger school before you arrived? I think there was 30 before I arrived here in the nineties. The 35th. Okay. Did you did you, on occasion still feel like an impostor? So 30 30 had been there before. You knew it could be done. You knew that you were adequately trained. You knew that you had prepared. Um, did you feel still feel like an impostor at any point during that process, or or even now? Because you serve in second of the 27th, right? Served in an infantry battalion. Are there Are there occasions when you feel like an impostor? Even today during Ranger school, I don’t think I felt any of that. Um, I think there was a little bit of you can feel that your second guessed more often than not. When you’re in that leadership role, there’s sometimes you have to be a little bit more stern, like a know this how we’re doing it, because after a while you start to notice a change. Subtle changes with certain, um, people in your platoon or whatever, but for the most part, no issues. With that there, I would say it’s more been after the fact this, um, imposter syndrome. And that’s definitely something that I struggled with initially coming back. Uh, and I think that was in large part, this you come back, especially after being there for X amount of months, you come back and you’re not and your top fitness and you have all these, Um, you just kind of out of it for a little while. That’s like Ranger brain is what they call it and trying to take that and go into a new unit and have this new identity and having this tab on your shoulder that people will expect certain things out of you. I definitely felt a lot more pressure and sometimes felt as if I proof that I earned as equally, um even on the when I’ve got my tab. I know. On the 25th, I d shared a post about it and some of the comments on there, just like these people who still don’t believe that, um, standards are held equal across the board, despite all the evidence that contrary. And I think I was just something that please in your mind, Uh, like, still, thanks for sharing that Savannah, I think, um, you know, and again and again back toe back to just having a clear eyed assessment of our culture. Um, it seems to me that there is still there is still evidence of some nastiness in our army. And you see it in, you know, some of the post that retirees occasionally post on, you know, 2050 posts like yours. Right? You are. You occasionally see it in the forces. Well, um, let me ask you this. I i recently, along with a couple other leaders in our formation watched 13th, which is a documentary about mass incarceration of African Americans today. And one of the things that I walked away from that discussion thinking about was that that racism had evolved. It did, you know, did not end with the passage of the 13th Amendment or the Emancipation Proclamation. It had evolved, just taken a new form, but it’s still persistent. We still see it today, and I think the black lives matter movement is a testament to that is the same truth. Sexism, Um, both in our national culture and in our army culture. Is there still evidence of sexism and has it just taken a different form? Is that maybe less overt now, Um, and more subtle. I would love to hear from from any of you on that front. So, sir, excuse me. Um, I would like to think that yes, we have made leaps and bounds. However there I do feel that sexism still exists, for example, kind of what lt just stated. A simple, subtle form of it is as the CSM. I may walk into a room here with other male counterparts that are CSM I believe in certain instances, someone out of that room may likely second guess me earning the rank of CSM and what I bring to the table versus my male counterparts. So I think it does exist today, however, it has done more not not as blatant. If that makes it, however, I think how we can combat that is to continue to educate our forces and show empathy. But I do think the way ahead is as we begin to move forward, the more female senior leaders that we see, like General, um, colonel matter as we begin to move and climb, or we see that first division, female commands army. Or if we have a first star, major Army female, I think it will then help with the culture in, um, males. Not having sexism of that makes sense. No, it absolutely does. Aromatics. Were you gonna were gonna comment as well? Im just on the caveat. Just looking at six. And I will go back to our current just looking at our culture number one, and we see this in the army. It takes a lot to change a culture. So just going back and looking at how much it requires a change of culture. We also have to look at some of the biases and stereotypes that kind of come with that when we kind of look at sexism. Um, and just what were some of those so show biases? Not by such a generational things that people looked as so example. I’m a Dole military couple. And so, you know, I would hear slides throughout my career. You know that. Hey, because society tells me that I should, you know, because I’m in the military. I’m not home taking care of my kids, and we know that that’s not a true statement, nor is it a fair statement. And so that is where, you know, just going back and just trying to change that mindset. You know, just change that because it’s not only about a dual military couple. We also have family members where our spouses in the military or another spouses working, but it’s still no difference. And so, just going back, we’ve done a good job, you know, the military is on a good job as far as trying to change our culture will never take that away. But just like our society we see the issues that are going on, not only in society but as well as you know, what our own forces that we have going on, that we have a way to go. And so I say that we did leaps and bounds. We have improvements to continue to make. Thanks, man. Um, McHale, I think, uh, I think you’ve got a question from the audience. Yes, sir. So, Sergeant Major Brock, you talked a little bit about being second guessed. This is question is from J branch on Facebook. What did you do to personally overcome being second guessed in those predicaments Done is prove my competence. Um, sadly, like lt said earlier, when we sit at the table as a female, we are second guessed. So once they actually sit, listen and talk to you, and they realize that you’ve proven yourself in your level of competence. Your accepted more so pretty much throughout my career, I’ve always had to prove myself. And one more question. This is from John Walsh on Facebook. This is for any of the panel members. What advice do you have for the leaders, male or female? To support women’s equality beyond voicing just the support. Um, I would say a couple of things. Number one, you know, just going back in, first of and going back to identifying talent but mentorship from the beginning. I mean, not just waiting to somebody becomes a major to start trying to look at their career, but looking at that mentorship from the time that they come in as a lieutenant and just building that building that in them. But not only that, there’s a difference between mentorship, which is where we volunteer to go out and and mentor and be, you know, look at only ours and, you know, be amended to somebody. But there’s a difference between being a mentor and a sponsor, and I think that you know, more women. We need more sponsorship throughout our career with the senior leaders, both male and females. Thanks for that, Colonel Maddox, because I was gonna say that as well. And it go to the Book of Athena Rising. Why men should mentor women. That’s actually a second part of the title of that book and actually was on ah us Indo pecan reading lists. And it’s actually meant for men. The book. It’s written by some retired Navy captains who wrote it, and it talks about why that’s important if we want to tap into the talent that Colonel Maddox talked about that if we believe that 50% of our population has talent in there, just like the other 50% if you want to reach down in there, you know, would we have seen the kind of leaders if we didn’t tap into that talent? And it takes people at a very young age where you see, Wow, this person is very good at that. You know, I’m gonna take some time, coach, teach mentor and train and not be afraid to share your experience, because if that weren’t the case, I don’t think any of us would be sitting here if if men didn’t take because I have never had a female boss. It’s all been men in the military. And if they didn’t take the time to do that or to correct me, I remember my first commander in division artillery. He called me in as a second lieutenant said, If you never make a mistake here, then you’ve done absolutely nothing, and it wasn’t like, Wow, I can make mistakes. Awesome. No, it was that it’s okay to try to be innovative. Don’t be afraid to do that. And I think that messages for men and women as well. I think if we want to pick the best talent, we have to do this together. This is not women’s. Equality is not a women’s issue. It’s a human issue. It’s all of our issues. Thank you. Let me let me ask you this. Um, so, Savannah, you talked about standards and Ranger school and the fact that the standard was the standard and that, you know, occasionally you have to remind people of that that you did not have toe have to meet a lower standard by virtue of being a woman in the in the school than the men did. Um, and I think our armies come a long way in that regard, you know, And I think we see it in, you know, efforts like a CFT where that now there is There is one standard. We’re we’re setting one standard that everyone has to meet. And if you could meet it, you conserve In the organization, you can fill the role, but it seems to me that culturally, there still may be two different standards, Um, as it relates to behavior, really individual behavior. So I I at least still see evidence of male misbehavior being excused, and I think we’ve kind of eradicated. The boys will be boys from our lexicon. Um, but I still I still see evidence of that that women are held to a much higher standard in terms of the language they use, how they behave in uniform, out of uniform. Um, the fact that I think there is a perception in the military in some circles that a woman cannot be both tough and well liked. She has to choose one or the other. Um, I wonder if any of you might comment on kind of your your personal experiences and acknowledging, of course, that the Army that we’ve made progress, But does that still exist today? Is there still a double standard as it relates to behavior and leadership style? Um, I think that there is a There’s a general is definitely better than how you say, like the boys will be boys lexicon. But I think that there is some degree of a different expectation. Maybe not a different standard, but this expectation that, um, the female leader is going to behave a certain way. Um, and it’s not always the same expectation, but there’s a a feud, I guess, stereotypes that you would expect. Um, you get this perception that you’re expected to fall into Ah, and I was talking to a friend recently about this, and I think she put it well. She said that women in the military are the most criticized and seen in uniform and in the most invisible outside of uniform. And I think that’s that’s American culture, not a unique to the military, where you are expected to very critique than expected to behave a certain way. But then the public in when they think of a soldier, you get a six for white male. And that’s just the stereotype that you expect to see and then females, even in pop culture and movies. The general portrayed as you know, the nurse or something like that. Um, and I think that that’s American culture issue, not a unique to the military, Um, but I think that feeds at double standard or that differing expectations of what you expect in a female leader. I like to jump on that ad. Teoh with lt said, You know, when you look at how wounded warriors air treated I’ve seen you know w amputees. Tammy Duckworth’s I was in Iraq when she’s there, Senator, you know, people don’t know the story. Aviator flying and ah injured one arm. And she still even within Congress. They don’t know the story. Oh, you know, she just happens to have aviation wings on her sleeve that she wears on her her prosthetics. And yet people still don’t know the story. I think that is telling of American society. I often have toe and I share the story I I share. What? How brave she was still tryingto land that aircraft thinking she has her legs and she doesn’t. And having survived for women with a group walking through the airport clearly ah, single amputee, A wounded warrior with all the other men. She’s there hobbling along and everybody says it to all the men. And here here we have a warrior hero, clearly wounded warrior, and we we, as an American society don’t see her on. Um you know, that’s something I think we have to bring up to society. We we as soldiers who serve those who are wounded, those who sacrifice. I think it’s our duty and and through that understanding that everybody in here, men and women put our lives on the line. And I think that is also an issue. Wounded warriors across the board, but women wounded wars even more so. So I think it’s a dual piece that we need to bring about awareness to. Can I can I ask? And for the panel or or for you, is the Army doing a good enough job in telling that story? Are we fulfilling our responsibilities? I mean, we can’t go to Hollywood and demand that they produce a feature film. You know that that features a woman, protagonist, um, in a military role. But are we telling the stories effectively enough? You know, the two Silver Star recipients that you mentioned, you know and know they’re kind of the one offs the Ashley’s War. You know, stories like that they get a little bit of traction, But is the institution doing everything that it can Teoh tell this story to the American public? That’s, you know, I’ll follow up and make it short cause I’m I know I’m talking too much here. Right? Um, you know, I think I think they could do better. I know they’re trying, and I think continuing conversations like this and when we have opportunities to share those stories with people who have influence in society because these air fascinating stories of heroism and bravery and it doesn’t matter the gender. I mean, if we can garner stories from all these amazing men who who did heroic things and we’re women and we can be inspired well, men could be equally inspired by these women because we’re all human and in the human spirit transcends gender and culture and race. Thanks, man. Um, let me ask you, uh, let me ask you all this. And I think it kind of straddles the defense between culture and policy. How do you all think we’re doing with regard, Teoh? Sexual assault and sexual harassment? The military? Um, I know. You know, a couple of years ago, it was it was a very visible topic. You know, Senator Gillibrand I was championing, championing her bill which did not survive Andi. There were There were deep concerns that the military was not taking this seriously enough and was not addressing this cultural. I think it’s hard a cultural issue. Um, are we Are we doing better? Are we making progress? I think one of the one of the statistics that’s a little troubling from my perspective is that in the last in last year’s report on sexual assault in the military, there was for the army, there was a jump from, um a 4.4 assaults per per 1000 incidents rate to 5.5. So an increase of really greater than 25%. Um, you know, one of my concerns is the party line often appears to be that, um, you know, Hey, this is this is a good news story, because reporting is increasing. Um, but are we deluding ourselves, right? Is there a possibility that nowhere? That no word either stagnant or retro grading. In terms of this, this cultural issue in our force, I’d appreciate any of your thoughts on that. So, sir, I think that we have made progress. However, were still challenge in this category. Um, and we have a lot of work to do because I think we’re getting personnel to report it. However, I think in order for this organization to get better as a whole, we need to have leaders at all echelon where the trust is there. Because without that, trust is going to be nearly impossible for the army as a whole to get a grasp on actual sharp when it comes to their and we see sharp incidents, you know, male versus female, where have you apus agenda? But you also have males as well that are the victims. So what I don’t want to do is minimize that in my stating right now. So as a whole, I think its leaders at echelon building trust within the formation that anyone will report. So we still have a lot of work to do because we’re not there from my lens. Come on. The on the similar line In another statistic from the same study that I found a little troubling, not a little troubling. Very troubling was, um, the rates of sexual assault and harassment, um appear to be significantly higher in units that are categorized. It’s having toxic cultures. So there’s a strong correlation between a toxic culture and heightened rates of sexual assault or sexual harassment, Um, and more than 20% of women in the military report serving in a toxic culture. Um, and again, I think this you know it and again and not to detract from the progress that we’ve made Red. I think it’s it’s worthy of celebration. But when we’re honest with ourselves, are we making progress? You know, Are we getting better? Are we attacking this insidious problem in the force, or are we just kind of making excuses for ourselves and, you know, throwing out the token policy or the took in poster, you know, to communicate that we care. I guess I’ll start with this, I think in a great question. You know, we just had a sexual assault, sexual harassment training with our four star sitting in their leading from the front, our chief of staff, who was a 25th I d. General Clark Key. Ah, lead the whole training. He had two star leading this training, starting off with the chief warrant officer who does the embodiment of of sexual harassment, sexual assault. I’m sure you’ve all seen that amazing, powerful video, but really it goes back to leadership just like you said leadership development. It’s the environment that you said, if you really believe that people are a team, we’re gonna treat everybody with dignity and respect, and that goes to sexual harassment, harassment because of culture, background, you know, every single kind of harassment that you can think of. If it’s a positive environment, you’re going to see not in my squad, right? Not my my battle buddy. I’m gonna take care of one another cause you know, I love the push and we gotta continue that push. And I think it’s a continual process because we are recruiting from the general, the larger society that’s coming with all these messages and those of us who are parents see those messages that teens get today, and that’s who we’re recruiting from. So our constant continual training and retraining and bringing them in to this family called the Army, and it has to be that way. This is the family, and this is how we treat each other in this family. We care about each other because that buddy of yours is going to save your life on the battlefield, and that’s the business we’re in. But we have to continue to make it a positive environment and you’re absolutely right. There is a direct correlation between toxicity and how people are treated, whether it’s assault, whether it’s racist comments, racist actions. I mean, all of that group together, you probably would see a correlation based on the leadership that’s in there. And I’m sure just, you know, a command sergeant Major. She probably has a great pulse on as she’s seeing young enlisted soldiers coming into our ranks and the transition. You know, they come out of basic training, sort of ready to go, and they’re coming into a unit. That transition is key. Thank you, Michaela. So, sir, this question is actually for Sergeant Major Brock. Sorry, Major. You kind of talked about that inclusion piece with some of the newer soldiers coming into the army and everything. So what advice would you give any officer in a young officer or n CEO who may not have many females in their formation? So, Thea vice that I would give that young officer and CEO our leader that may not have a lot of experience or females within. At the end of the day, we still have relatives, a sister, a cousin UNECE that we can talk to, and it’s understanding and being empathetic to that and making them feel a part of the team. So if you view them as that sister, you know that needs that cousin that you’re extremely close to You will get that same actual, um, care concern for that soldier. And you could use some of those same things just showing a genuine concern where they will feel opening up to come to you with any issue that they may have in that regard. All right, if it’s alright with you all, I’d like toe kind of jump from from culture in tow. Policy discussion recognizing, of course, that there they’re deeply intertwined. Um, but I would like to start with kind of open ended question. Um, if you were chief of staff of the Army or better yet, Secretary of defense for a day or for much longer, what policies would you revise, implement, abolish in order to make the army aim or inclusive place in a place in which women arm or able to realize their potential and again focusing kind of on policy? What are the concrete things we can do to make the army better. Um, I think one policy that I think is already there being revised or been revised. Um, all right, at least in practice. Uh, the leaders 1st 2020 policy for the gender integration in tow Combat arms that stated that they had to be two leaders in the unit before female leaders in the unit before they would be female soldiers. Um, I think specifically, officers at first, uh, that policy from so far has been restrictive to females being able to get those positions Infantry and armor branch female specifically being able to get these key development positions such as they could move to XO because there was no female in that battalion. They couldn’t have a female soldier, um, working in their MOS. They’d be stuck in headquarters working in the supply room because there was no females in there platoons yet, But I think I think that’s being revised. But that policy sets this expectation that males can’t be adequate leaders two females or that males can’t fail that mentorship role for females. Um, if we’re putting enough trust in these leaders to go deploy, conduct these training events and we should have enough trust that they could be fair. Leaders to the females are in their units. And if there is not that, then that needs to be addressed before re just put this blanket policy that they need to be females in place, ma’am. Thanks, Savannah. Sit down. And that’s a great point. If I have opportunity with the with some leadership, I’ll make sure I I share that. So this it’s so very helpful. Your point is, is spot on that. You know, all of us here, the older ones of us here on the table. Our bosses have been men that have allowed us to be here. So if we think that, you know, men are key in this equation of mentoring, and I think the policy in 2015 as we we’ve transitioned, we’re five years into it. I think the transition has been awesome. I think the Army has an amazing job. I mean, really said a great standard. I think so. Now it’s time. The season there’s a season for everything. There’s a season to relook at how we’re implementing that policy. There’s another policy. I think, that the Army can latch onto its a larger D o D. Women Peace and Security based on the act that the president signed on U. N Security Council Resolution 13 25. While there’s two aspects to this, it’s a requirement that the D o. D implement women peace and security. And it really is that the Department of Defense is asked to diversify. The organization allows for women and meaningful participation across development management employment of the joint force. So Army is part of that, of course. And, um, you know, in order to also get women in our partner nations and allies to partner, So exercises, engagements, events, you know, having women leaders. So yesterday we had wonderful chief of Defense Conference with all the chiefs of defense secretary defense was able to speak yesterday. Just It was incredible. We did all virtually across the region, Australia had their female senior enlisted in there. The only female in all of the Chiefs of Defence senior enlisted in that picture. But they have been a champion of this idea of women peace and security. So if we the army are tucked in, obviously we have requirements. But it’s not talked about enough. As part of the joint force, Um, that they find that it really is. If you think about it right now, U N peacekeeping forces have to have their goal. Is 15% of all peacekeeping forces have to be women. The reason why they fought found that gender based violence in certain areas decreased and the confidence of that peacekeeping force increase. And we all saw that in Iraq and Afghanistan when we had to create female engagement teams. So the role in a very complex environment in which women are key and critical, particularly in societies where access to women the 50% that population is difficult for men who are infantry warriors going into that place. They don’t have access to the intelligence or understanding of the civil environment. Women become critical, and I think the Army could do we if we continue to latch on to the policies that are already in place to increase our awareness on women peace and security, D. O D. Implementation plan and the President’s Act and Con Congress is signing on putting money against it, which they already have. Thanks, Pam. Um, ser Major and Colonel Maddox. If I can kind of direct this question at the two of you, Colonel Maddox Yuhas as one half of a dual military couple. Um, your husband would probably argue three quarters of that duel. Military couple, um, and then Sauron major as, um, as as an enlisted as an N c O. Um, What can the Army be doing to retain women through the ranks? So we see the same thing in the army that we see in public life in America large, which is kind of a leaky pipeline. Women women enter a profession and relatively large numbers, but they’re not promoted at the same rates. So across our services, I think women represent approximately 17 18% of the the active duty force, but only 10% of its senior sergeant sergeants, major kernels, general officers, flag officers, Um, what are what are some things and practical things the service conduce to retain talent and to ease the burden associated with balancing work and home life. And I think that appears to be a common theme in many womens decision to leave the service. I’d love to hear both of your thoughts on that front. So third, for the first part of your question, in regards to How can they retain talent? Um, I think retaining talent just not only for females, but just senior in enlisted arm enlisted side, I think, if we’re afforded the opportunity. So for me, in my 23 years of experience, I’ve been mostly operational. So I think a way to retain, um, is through given us the opportunity that our officer counterparts may get when they get to go on, finish their master’s degree program. So that would be something that will be beneficial. And when it comes to the family to be very transparent, you have to have a solid support system. So for me, the only reason that I am successful is because the last eight years, almost nine years of my daughter’s life, she’s my mom had followed me everywhere. I’ve been in order for me to do that. So, um, with the work profession, the professional, you know, personal, it is tough. I’m not gonna tell, you know, sit up here and bluff. It is very tough, but you can do so with a solid support system. If you don’t have that in place is nearly impossible. Hope that answers your question and um, Star Major. We were talking about this earlier. It’s striking to me the disparity between the opportunities afforded to the officer corps and opportunities afforded Teoh senior enlisted, uh, and CEOs, um, you know I had shared with you I had the privilege of stepping away from the operational first for five years. Total two years, Grad school, two years Teaching a West 20.1 year at the Command General Staff College. Um, and that’s really unheard of in the enlisted ranks toe to be able to take five years of quality, family time, deep investment and personal development on by absolutely second that the Army has a long way to go. The military has a long way to go in that regard. Chromatic side. Love to hear your thoughts. Um, I guess my focus, when you’re talking about retaining, doesn’t you’re not only looking at like a dual military couple, I’m just looking at across the force and goes going back to what you said. The conversation we were having early about senior non commissioned officers not getting that break where we as officers get breaks along the line with it. If it’s going to the advanced course are getting to go to training with industry or something like that. So just seeing how can they retain? Um, senior enlisted? But also giving him that break is well, but go into the dual military. I would say that one of the pluses for being a dual military couple has been involved leadership from the time that we were lieutenants. So just having that involve leadership, who tried to make sure they reached out because we had mentors. But we also had they sponsored us. And so they were, you know, reaching out, making sure that, you know, we were blessed to that. Throughout our 22 years of marriage, we were together, 21 of it outside of deployments. So just having that involved leadership who actually worked with us and sponsors sponsored us to make sure that we got into the same, you know, peace, duty stations, everything else. Now one of the negatives that I learned a negative not really negative that I learned later found out waas Um and I see just with a lot of dual military couples that we we tend to stay at the tactical level. So when they were going to the bio and you heard the hood stewards, drums and brags of the world. So we tend to stay at the tactical level, but with being at a tactical level, it also took a way different opportunities that we would have as far as, um, you know, getting go out and try to be it on and also serving in combat arms were both come combat service support. So I would say for myself, one of the challenges is you know, you don’t have a lot of females who are serving is AIDS, and that’s because a lot of guys in combat arms and everything else So I’m just staying at that tactical level. I kind of noticed when I got into really senior service college was where I kind of went back and did a reflection on myself and didn’t realize what was the impact to that. And it all went back to OK, I did it, you know. And um, I did my best, but I wish I would have had other opportunities along the way. McHale So Colonel Maddox and star Major Brock, I think this might kind of apply to you. This is from Takita Brown do any of you feel that is, if your career was held up, we’re at a disadvantage for promotion due to making time to either having Children. And if so, how did you guys deal with making that choice? Gates? Yeah, I’ll repeat the question. So this is from Taquito Brown on Facebook. Do you guys feel as if your career was held up at any point or was at a disadvantage for promotion due to making time to have Children or your family while serving on active duty? And if so, how did you deal with making that choice? So the one thing that Major General various Looms mentioned was having male mentors. And so when I was ah, first Lieutenant, it was a male mentor who actually sat down. He introduced me to just think about a five year plan, and we all probably used. And so he was the one who I was laying out my plan. He said, Hey, you got include your husband. So I included my husband. Then he said, But you also got include your life. You gotta include when you wanna have kids, you know, don’t you know you still have to live your life. And so, by the mere fact that in the first Cavalry Division in the disc calm that I had a male role model to just sit me down and talk to me, he didn’t only talk to me about how to career advance and everything else he also talked to me about OK, but you also got a plan for your life as well. And so that’s what I actually did. So to answer the question, no, having kids did not hinder my career in or did it hinder my husband’s career? So for me, um, I consider myself a late bloomer. Uh, I had my daughter in 2011 the same year that I made the master sergeant list. So with that being said, um, I would say somewhat, yes. And that’s again from my perspective, because instead of me immediately going into the first Sergeant position, I had my baby, and after I had my daughter, I had to take some time off because I wasn’t ready to go back into the fight. So with that, um, do do I think that I was set back? Maybe a little Yes, when I look back at it. Do I have regrets? Absolutely not. So it depends on how you look at it for. So for me, I do think it. It hindered me a little bit in that regard because I wasn’t ready to take on that First Sergeant position as soon as I pen. Absolutely. And this is from Kelly McManus on Facebook as well. When it comes to a having that family and that unique role that military women play, what do you think? Do you think there are any policy changes that could be done to help these women in the military who plan to have that were already have a family? I guess. But I had my kids back in the 19 nineties and early 2000. One of the policies that you know I don’t get to experience was where they’re now offering women three months to actually be able to remain at home and take care of their kids. But they’re also offering that opportunity to the husbands as well is that is long, but there’s still offering that opportunity so they can go and have that bonding time with the family as well. So I I say kudos to the army on that policy for doing that because that was something that I didn’t really get to experience. I have a I have a comment on that. So this is a discussion you know I’ve had with other countries like Australia, New Zealand and then not that the Air Force is in another country but another culture. You know that you can actually take off two years to have your baby. And apparently we do have this policy in the Army. It’s just not well publicized cause I did ask Secretary Esper when he was secretary of the Army. With gentle Milly, I had the opportunity to ask. He said, We do have that policy. It’s just not, uh, instituted the way it is in the Air Force. So the Secretary of the Air Force has allowed you to take, you know, up to two years of leave to take care of your Children, and then you will not be penalized by being in a different year group. You go back for the for officers to two year groups back so that you’re not behind, because that’s a concern. The, uh, New Zealand and Australia do something similar also and also let them go part time or some remote works of very creative solutions for dual military and family members to retain the force, and particularly those countries of smaller forces. So the M time and investment that you put into training that force and then they leave particularly, You know, we put a lot of time in our pilots. Uh, how do we maintain and retain when there’s other opportunities on the outside? So having these kinds of policies that will ensure that we maintain and retain the talent, I think, is something that we in the Army need to consider, um, offering in a more accessible manner. Ma. Thanks so much for that. There’s a It was a great article a couple of years ago in Ah, Harvard Business Review called Great Leaders who make the mixed work, and it’s focused on corporate America. But one of the observations they made about developing inclusive organizations was having toe have flexible work arrangements. So allowing people to take off time to tell a work toe work part time in order to retain that talent. Because otherwise you’re losing it. You’re you’re losing all that human capital that you’ve invested a lot of time and energy and training. Um, I think we’re Ah, I think we’re nearing the end of our time allowed. What I’d like to do, though, is close with almost a speed round on prescriptions for individual action. So what I’d love to hear from each of you is you know, we’ve talked our me policy, You know, that’s those are issues that we may or may not be able to influence. But what would you share with individual people who are watching, um, and specific groups? I’d love to hear you addresses. What would you share with the men who are watching? What do men need to hear? Um, are there things that men need to stop saying we’re doing in the workplace in order to make this a more inclusive organization? What are the things that other women should be doing in the force? Um, and what are the things that leaders should be doing in the force? I’d love to hear from each of you on that topic on. And then that will be our final question for the afternoon. Um, I guess starting with men. Um, I got something to stop saying or gearing, in my opinion, would just be assuming that women are gonna be more sensitive about certain topics. Um and then also making it obvious that you’re going to stop talking about something because a female is around. That’s not the goal of these programs. Doesn’t like hide your locker room talk. It’s this culture change that needs to happen where that doesn’t even exist in the first place. Um, but just like making it obvious that you’re stopping something because a female is around just kind of makes the whole situation uncomfortable. So for me, sir, I would say something to for the males to stop within your organization. If you are guilty of this, I would say Stop assuming or saying a female is emotional when in actuality, you’re passionate about what you’re doing. That that will be one of the things I would leave. And as faras, uh, something that they can benefit from. Just treat your female counterparts those of us, your colleagues, a Ziff. You would teach your wife, your sister, your knees, your cousin With that same level of dignity and respect, I would just stay start off by saying, and I’m always always talk about mentorship and sponsorship, you know, especially to the gentleman. As I stated earlier with my example of the major who mentored and coached me as a lieutenant. It’s men make awesome mentors and sponsors. Please continue to keep mentoring and sponsoring the ladies that were going through not only ladies but everyone and give them those opportunities. Also, when given on those opportunities, are you know, Please, just looking at the stereotypes and everything else. It’s OK to give a lady or a young lady an opportunity to be an eight camp or an exo without fear of a negative perception or without fear of possible sharp or anything like that, because that also takes away from them as well. And just continue into, um, do great things for the military and just moving forward. I think I just like to, um, message to everyone. Men and women would be to really, um, test your assumptions and ask yourself, What is your unconscious bias? I think if you look at any organization that is innovative that grows that thinks out of the box, they are possibility thinkers, not obviously some wonderful traditions in our military rain But we also have to leap forward just like we’re seeing with cyberspace. Those air, like quantum leaps forward. In order for us to do that, we have to reflect on ourselves, and I think we have that quiet, not overt dialogue that we have anymore cause we’re aware we have stuffed a lot of feelings the way we feel about each other in terms of gender that sometimes we will fall into the roles that society tells us. But if we want to make leaps and bounds, we have to challenge and test our assumptions. What are those roles? Well, maybe there aren’t any. Maybe there’s all kinds of rules for every single human if we all we all did. The you know the biometrics when you’re unemployed tried to get the eye scan and you couldn’t. We all have a unique thumbprint. We have a unique ice can. That means that every single individual man or woman has some unique qualities. And in order for us to really see that we have to see beyond gender, race, culture, background, height, weight, whatever we have, we need to see the person as an individual, as a warrior that has unique talents and skills. Thank you. The perfect note to end on. Um, thank you to all of you. I can’t tell you how honored I have been toe participate in the discussion. How much I have learned. My very much appreciate it. And I hope we can continue the conversation beyond this panel, both in the force and individually with that Makayla alternate over to you. Thank you, sir. And thank you all for attending 25th Infantry Divisions Virtual and Centennial Women’s Equality Day program in helping us honor all those who have contributed to the vitality, success and prosperity of our nation. On behalf of 25th Infantry Division, 25th Combat Aviation Brigade and third Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment. Lieutenant Colonel Lee will present our keynote speaker and Panelist with a small token of our appreciation. She’s presenting a lay in plaque to Lieutenant Murray. Colonel Lee is presenting a lay in plaque to Sergeant Major Brock. Colonel Lee is presenting a lay in plaque to Colonel Maddox. Colonel Lee is presenting a lay and plaque to Major General Barry Islam. All right to our panel and keynote speaker. Once again. Thank you. So So much everyone. Captain certain. I truly enjoyed hearing the great dialogue and really, that hour and a half just flew by. I think we we went over just by a couple minutes, but it was very interesting and informative. And I thank you so much for your time today and making this a great event. And to our Facebook audience. Thank you so much for dialing and thank you for all the great questions. Thank you for joining us. Aloha and have a great day.