Women in the military: From the start, rules couldn't keep the most determined out of the fight
Sherry Barkas
Recognized mostly as nurses, women have played a variety of roles in the military and during war through the years, often so committed to serving they would dress themselves as men to get on the battlefield.
Deborah Sampson was the first woman to serve with an infantry. She was deemed a hero of the American Revolution when she served 17 months in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment under the guise of “Robert Shurtleff.”
At West Point, N.Y., she was assigned to Capt. George Webb’s Light Infantry Company, Fourth Regiment, Massachusetts Continental Line. Her job was to scout neutral territory to assess British buildup of men and military equipment in Manhattan, which Gen. George Washington contemplated attacking, according to WomensHistory.org.
In June 1782, Sampson and two sergeants led about 30 infantrymen on an expedition that ended with confrontation — often one-on-one — with British loyalists, called Tories. She led a raid on a Tory home that resulted in the capture of 15 men, according to WomensHistory.org.
Hospitalized in October 1783 with an illness, her true gender was revealed and she was honorably discharged.
Dr. Mary Edwards Walker was the Army’s first female surgeon. Serving during the Civil War, she would cross enemy lines to treat civilians, ultimately being captured by Confederate troops and held as a prisoner of war. She remains the only woman to ever receive the Medal of Honor.
In 1866, Cathay Williams became the first and only documented black woman up to that point to enlist in the Army. Dressed as a man, she was a Buffalo soldier going by the name of William Cathay.
It was during World War II that women’s roles began to expand dramatically — even putting them in the pilot seats of military aircraft for the first time, with the formation of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP, program.
WASP flew every type of aircraft the Army had at the time, ferrying them, towing gunnery targets, transporting equipment and non-flying personnel and flight-testing aircraft that had been repaired before the men were allowed to fly them again.
Two other branches of service were also created just for females: Women’s Auxiliary Corps — later, the Women’s Army Corps or WAC; and the Women Accepted for Volunteer Military Services — WAVES. Women also served in the Marines and Coast Guard, called SPARS.
The WASP program was created by merging the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron — WAFS — started by Nancy Harkness Love, and the British Air Transport Auxiliary — ATA — which was created at the suggestion of Jacqueline Cochran.
Cochran earned her pilot’s license in 1932 and soon went on to set women’s records in flying, altitude and open class speed. In 1953, she became the first woman pilot to exceed the speed of sound.
During World War II, she was the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic and earned the Distinguished Service Medal.
Cochran and her husband, Floyd Odlum, ultimately moved to a ranch in Indio, where they lived until their deaths — his in 1976 and hers in 1980.
Just under 1.29 million people serve in the U.S. military today and as many as 18 percent of them are women — up from just 2 percent in 1973 when the draft ended and the opportunities for women began to broaden.
Over the past 45 years, barriers for women have been dropped — a step or two at a time — and today women are fighter pilots, serve aboard ships and submarines and, finally, with the infantry.
Two Coachella Valley veterans, Linda Little, who served 25½ years in the U.S. Navy, and Michelle Cherland, who served 24 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve, said they each found the military provided them opportunities to do what they wanted.
Each said they were treated with respect — by all with whom they served.
“Women, I think, are getting more respect than they ever have,” Cherland said. “But I think there is still a lot of work to be done.”
While it was 2013 when then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta removed the military’s ban on women serving in combat, Cherland said it meant little to her because, as she put it, “We have been there all along.”
Her career in the Army started in 1991 in signal operations, putting her unit — males and females — in war zones ahead of troops to string communication cables that would be vital for troops. She and her unit were armed the same as men in the infantry.
“Nothing really is safe when you’re overseas,” said Cherland, a first-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Palm Desert, who did three deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. “Females were not getting recognized for what we know we have done.”
In her 24 years in the military, she served three years on active duty as a non-commissioned officer and the remainder as an officer in the reserves, retiring as a captain in 2015.
She was deployed to the Middle East three times between 2003 and 2013 — once to Iraq and twice to Afghanistan — earning her captain’s bars and the Bronze Star during her second deployment with the 348th Transportation Company in 2009.
She had changed careers to logistician and was stationed at Camp Leatherneck — a Marine base — in Kuwait, where she was leading supply convoys back and forth around the footprint of Afghanistan.
Convoys could be days long and exhausting, she said.
“Even the smallest of convoys is dangerous. Often, we would sleep in the trucks in the middle of nowhere,” she said. “We were fired upon all the time.”
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At just 5 feet tall with shoes on, Cherland said when she first had to stand in front of troops as a leader, “I saw in their eyes, ‘We’re gonna die.’ I had to prove that I am small but mighty; that I would respect them and I would keep them safe.”
That came from getting to know the men and women she was leading and showing she genuinely cared about each one, Cherland said.
Soldiers she led were 19 to 24 years old, some newlyweds. She would be their confidante, asking how they were doing and then listening to them reply honestly.
“I earned their trust,” she said.
“I always felt that, if you showed respect, you got respect,” Cherland said.
One difference between her and the male captains: She was assigned to sleep with other female enlistees — her subordinates — while the men were given private quarters with radios, telephones and computers with Internet access.
“I was not able to get any of that because of my gender,” Cherland said.
Rooming with others had its pluses, though.
“I got to bond with the other female soldiers,” she said. “We were a bunch of moms in our tent talking about our kids.”
She was the only female officer in her company at the time. She knew the men were watching her and she wanted to be sure that no matter what, she would be at least as good a leader as they were.
“I used to tell ... the young enlisted females that they would have to work at 200 percent to gain the respect of their male counterparts,” Cherland said. “Once you have that,” she said, “you can work at 150 percent.”
While she did not experience sexual harassment or assault, Cherland knows the same is not true of all women in the military and she would like to see a better reporting system put in place — one that better protects the victim.
“I met the most wonderful human beings in my life and I was privileged to lead them,” Cherland said.
Little joined the Navy in 1983 and in 1989 her help with passing an inspection earned her an invitation from a rear admiral join his administrative staff with the Seabees.
“I said, ‘How soon?’”
Not long after reporting to the Seabees, her unit was called up for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, serving under Rear Adm. Paul Rosser.
“What they said was, ‘Report for duty 17 November 1990; make sure your will is in order,” Little recalled. “I’ll never forget those words.”
Her unit was sent to Gulfport, Louisiana, for training “which was quite intense. ... including chemical warfare training,” Little said.
They were ready to ship overseas to the Middle East but then told to stand by, enough troops were already on the way, she recalled.
“We were ready to go; my whole unit was ready to go ... and they just said, ‘No, we don’t need you at this time.’”
Then, at 1:40 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1991, she was on duty when her beeper went off.
“That’s when the USS Missouri shot off its first ... Tomahawk cruise missile at Iraqi targets,” she said, commencing Operation Desert Storm. “Now we’re in it.”
From there, information about what was happening was passed along on a need-to-know basis.
“Most of the time, my family would ask what’s going on and I wouldn’t know,” Little said. “It was a scary time for us.”
During her career, she did what she hoped when joining the Navy — she saw the world. Overall, it was a rewarding life and the opportunities are there for men and women, Little said.
“What civilian job can you go to, you’re going to get a uniform supplied to you, three square meals a day, a roof over your head, staying physically fit and be paid for it?”
She always felt she was part of a team and was supported by those with whom she served — men and women.
“I took orders from guys who were a lot younger than me. I took orders from guys who were a lot older than me,” Little said. “I never had a problem with anyone.”
She retired in 2008 as a petty officer first class with a rating of yeoman first class. Along the way, she received the Navy Meritorious Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and other commendations.
Little qualified as an expert rifleman and pistol shooter — the highest ranking possible.
When she enlisted in the Navy, many of the barriers women encountered had already been lifted, she said.
“Women do everything in the Navy now,” said Little, who now volunteers as a docent at the Palm Springs Air Museum.
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She chose the administrative field to learn more about computers, which were starting to be more widely used when she enlisted.
“I love the Navy. I love my country. I’m very patriotic,” and the tears flow with the sounding of "Taps" or the singing of the national anthem, she said. “I would highly recommend (the military) for any female or male.”
MAKING STRIDES
Notable milestones for women in the U.S. military since the Vietnam War
1976: The five military academies open their doors to women cadets.
1978: Women in the Navy and Marine Corps are able to serve on non-combat ships as technicians, nurses and officers.
1991-92: More than 41,000 women are deployed to the combat zone and two are taken captive during the Persian Gulf War.
1991: Congress authorizes women to fly in combat missions.
1993: Congress authorizes women to serve on combat ships.
1998: Females are allowed to fly combat missions for the first time as pilots.
2000: Capt. Kathleen McGrath becomes the first woman to command a U.S. Navy warship, which is assigned to the Persian Gulf.
2004: Col. Linda McTague becomes the first woman to command a U.S. Air Force fighter squadron.
2005: Army National Guard Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester earns the Silver Star in Iraq — the first woman to receive the award since World War II.
2008: Ann Elizabeth Dunwoody is promoted to four-star general in the U.S. Army — the first woman to reach that rank ever in the U.S. military.
2010: Navy begins allowing women to serve on submarines.
Source: Task & Purpose
VETERANS DAY EVENTS
Here are some of the ceremonies honoring veterans on Sunday and Monday. All events are free and open to the public:
SUNDAY:
La Quinta
9-10:30 a.m.: Annual ceremony honoring veterans, is held at City Hall, 78495 Calle Tampico, including the introduction of residents whose names are being added to the city’s Veterans Acknowledgement Sculpture on the Civic Center Campus.
11 a.m.: Old Town Artisan Studios, at 78046 Calle Barcelona, will pay tribute to veterans and their families; announce a new Veterans Art Program and present ceramic poppies to vets and those who have lost loved ones in the military.
Cathedral City
2 p.m.: Forest Lawn, 69855 E. Ramon Road, Cathedral City hosts its fourth annual celebration featuring a selection of talent from across the desert.
All day: The “Healing Field,” a tribute to uniformed men and women killed while serving since Sept. 11, 2001, is open daily until noon, Nov. 17, at Patriot Park next to Big League Dreams Sports Park, on the northeast corner of Date Palm and Dinah Shore drives. More than 6,900 American flags represent the fallen heroes.
Palm Desert
9 a.m.: The Hall of Honor is dedicated at The Carlotta in Palm Desert. The Hall of Honor is a space dedicated to honoring the men and women of The Carlotta who have served the country's military.
11 a.m.: Annual ceremony honoring all who have served will be held at the Civic Center Park amphitheater, on the northeast corner of Fred Waring Drive and San Pablo Avenue, will include keynote speaker Lt. Col. Joel Schmidt, executive officer of the 7th Marines, based at the Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms and concert by Heatwave, the Boys & Girls Club Jazz Band.
Palm Springs
3:30 p.m.: The 22nd annual Veterans Day Parade makes its way down Palm Canyon Drive, from Ramon Road to Alejo Road, followed by the Palm Springs High School Spirit of the Sands Band performance on the corner of Palm Canyon and Amado Road. The concert concludes with fireworks. Among those participating in the parade are members of the local chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
MONDAY:
Indian Wells
10 a.m.: The city hosts its annual ceremony with light refreshments at the veterans’ monument in front of City Hall, on the northeast corner of Highway 111 and Eldorado Drive.