Updated: 10/13/15, 6:15 a.m.
Editor’s Note: Ret. Col Lisa Firmin’s name was incorrectly spelled in the article below due to an editing error. We have updated the article below to reflect the proper spelling.
Four career military women spoke on Oct. 5 about their individual combat experiences and transitions to civilian life during a women’s military panel, the first in a series of events celebrating President Matson’s inauguration week.
The four-member panel retraced the historical steps of the hard-fought battle to move past the Direct Combat Exclusion Rule on women. Their struggles and sacrifices were front and center, as President Matson listened from the front row.
The panel showed how gradually, the rules are changed for all women in the military with an eye on the near future. In 2016, the U.S. military must open all combat jobs to women or seek an exception.
Paving the path
Panelist Tashawnya McCullough served 20 years in the United States Army as a veterinary food inspector. In 2003, she deployed to Iraq with the 72nd Medical Detachment. She was a squad leader for a six-man team that provided animal care to over 600 military working dogs. To put that in perspective, she said her father was a tough Navy man, so basic training had nothing on her dad.
Most of her career, she was a single parent. That meant sacrifice. Not to see your youngest daughter’s first steps, or hear her first words, was tough, she explained. But there was support, including later in life, a spouse who served as U.S. Air Force civil engineer.
In the earlier days, McCullough would get up early and do the tasks a mother does to make sure her children come first. She would drop them off at a babysitters way before sunrise and pick them up after the sun went down.
She stayed in the military for the sake of her children.
“It was about putting food on the table, providing for them, giving them opportunities that I wasn’t given,” McCullough said.
She wanted to give her children the opportunity to see the world and be able to receive and value an education because no one else in her family went to college.
Stories of sacrifice
“Less than a century ago, it was really rare that we had women in the military and yet right now, women fight in combat, command the air strikes, pilot jet fighters and oversee medical operations in the military,” said Yvonne Katz, chair of the San Antonio Women’s Chamber of Commerce, during her opening remarks.
With the actions they took and the commitments made on their journey, four ordinary women created extraordinary lives. Not just for themselves, but for women born after them, they explained.
“Somebody had to go through it to make it better for women,” said Ann Patrie, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel.
The audience nodded and listened attentively.
Jacklyn McJunkins, marketing coordinator for A&M-San Antonio asked the panel: “From all that you have learned, what advice can you give to the generation of women behind you?”
All spoke about choice. Choices women have now that they didn’t have before.
Karen Kalmbach, associate professor of psychology, welcomed the women to campus and offered this advice to women students: “Be willing to work hard.” Extraordinary lives, she said, are created and are built with intention.”
Sixteen percent of the university’s student population is military connected and the university aims to increase that number,” Kalmbach said.
“Women make up fifteen percent of armed forces and over 280,000 served in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Katz said. “We have the intelligence, we have the grit, we have the passion to move to the highest levels in our armed forces,”
These women fought to be the role model for the country, the schools and the students today.
Lisa Firmin, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, told the audience she struggled, but ultimately achieved great success during her military career. The men weren’t a big fan of hers, she said. They made it known they didn’t want her to stay. They harassed Firmin by putting dead rats on her desk and sometimes took the desk apart.
She was the “odd man out.” But that didn’t stop her.
“I took a lot, and I gave a lot,” she said of her military experience.
She fought back by taking apart her boss’ desk and stood her ground.
Her attitude at the time was: “I’m here to stay. You guys get used to it or leave, because I’m not leaving.”
“I stayed because I was trying to prove women can do it and I knew I was as good as they were,” Firmin said.
As the women spoke candidly and confidently, they landed on common themes of sacrifice, love of country, persistence, focus, and commitment
Angela Salinas, Marine Corps Major General, was the longest serving woman in history and the senior ranking Hispanic in the Corps. Salinas had a different perspective in boot camp than Firmin.
During her boot camp, women were trained by women. They prepared her and told her the ugly truth. She was the fifth and youngest out of her family. She had a strong work ethic and family values background but stressed on education. Salinas took out loans, grants, held down multiple jobs to get her by with school.
Salina’s passion for her job came from feeling like she was making a difference.
All four panelists continue to serve and give back to their community locally, regionally and globally.
Ann Patrie is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, a philanthropist and board member for a non-profit global organization that advocates for clean water. When she was in the military, she was recognized with an achievement within a combat zone. She and her husband are indie film producers, have produced student films nominated for Academy Awards.
McCullough will complete her bachelor’s degree in justice administration in Fall 2015 and hopes to pursue a master’s degree in counseling at A&M-San Antonio. She hopes to become a licensed counselor and focus on the treatment of veterans and their families.
“The path has been paved, and young women now have choices that generations before you didn’t. You can choose,” Salinas said.
