For most soldiers, 63% of whom joined the Army after women became eligible to serve in ground combat jobs, having a woman in charge of their unit is unremarkable.
FORT STEWART, Georgia – Being a woman in an Army combat unit often means being the only woman in the room.Staff Sgt. Ricora Jones, 23, recalls being the lone woman on the plane headed to Fort Stewart, a sprawling, swampy, piney post near Savannah and home to the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. On the bus from the airport, the same thing: no other women. Six years later, she's the only woman in the massive Abrams tank that she commands.
Ten years after the Pentagon repealed the ban on women serving in ground combat positions, female soldiers have risen in the ranks of these frontline units. Yet the intractable problem of sexual assault and harassment in the ranks – reports surged in the Pentagon's most recent survey – threatens progress. One woman combat officer recalled during reporting of this story of being told by a male senior officer she'd have received better reviews if she had slept with her superiors.
The personal part involved his father explaining that he emigrated from Italy in search of a better life for his family,"the American dream" that Panetta said he himself has lived. At 23,1st Lt. Delaney Hahn is a field artillery officer and commands a team of mostly men at Fort Stewart on March 21, 2023, in Georgia. The military recently allowed women to wear braids, which Hahn said was a great relief when she has her helmet on.
Jones, who is expecting a son in May, begins her day in group exercise with other pregnant soldiers and others who have recently given birth. Until she returns from maternity leave, she won't be commanding her Abrams tank. "The minute I saw her and she started talking to me and asking me questions, it was clear that she had the potential for great leadership," Ivory said."To take initiative, to move forward and get tasks done.""She was willing to sacrifice her own health just to be a part of the team," he said."I'm more of a, not their friend, but like somebody they can come to if they need it," she said.
"One of my female sociology professors, she grabbed me by my shoulders when she saw how upset I was about being field artillery," Kozuch said."She just shook me a little and said, 'Lindsey, you're going to pave the way for women in field artillery.'" Kozuch, accompanied by a female chaplain, did just that. It was difficult to call out a senior leader, she said. He replied that hadn't realized what he said and"played it off," she said."That has been a very big turning point in my career," Kozuch said."That I've gotten this far in the army, that I don't want to take the B.S. from anybody anymore.
She plans to continue to gain experience and aims to be the first woman to command an artillery battalion. Those units generally have about 500 soldiers who fire shells from 18 howitzer cannons."I've realized that these are positive leadership traits that all of the branches need," Kozuch said."And the more women leaders we have, the more women soldiers will feel comfortable in all types of branches throughout the Army.
1st Lt. Delaney Hahn works on a call for fire simulation training with her team at Ft. Stewart on March 21, 2023, in Georgia. Hahn is a field artillery officer and commands a team of mostly men.A television ad for the Coast Guard sparked her interest in the military. From that moment, as a middle-school student in Apex, N.C., she wanted to serve.
Her commander, Capt. Matthew Woislaw, 29, from Northborough, Mass., sees Hahn as a born leader and the kind of soldier the Army needs to help erase its recruiting deficit. He called her as an aggressive problem solver who"produces more in a week than some do in a month."The military has struggled to find recruits eligible and willing to serve. Last year, the Army recruited 45,000 soldiers, 15,000 short of its 60,000 recruitment goal.
The Army's challenge, she said, is to show potential recruits the opportunities that soldiers like Hahn, Kozuch and Jones have had.
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