“I hope I can show young girls that they are perfectly capable,” the Army’s only female diver said. “You have to put your mind to it, don’t quit, try your hardest and keep a positive attitude.”

'I think the unlearning weakness has to do with, if you’re conditioned, if you’re always told that women are the weaker sex and that women can never carry a comrade over their shoulder...if that becomes ingrained into your psyche, you start to think, ‘Well maybe that’s true’ and that’s not the case.'

This January will make three years since the Army opened infantry, armor, fire support and special operator jobs to women for the first time. At last count, there were 783 women serving across five divisions and one independent brigade. “They’re doing incredibly well,” Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands said. “We have females graduating from Ranger School. The things that we looked at when we opened up the specialties are happening across the board."