Views as a Woman in the Military

 

As a young girl growing up, Catherine O'Brien longed to get away from the area where she lived. Not having enough money for college, the Army looked to her as if it had a lot to offer. The year in which Cate enlisted and began basic training was the first year in which men and women trained together. The ability to be on equal grounds with men appealed to her.

 

She states, "There really isn’t a glass ceiling for women in the military, which is kind of a unique thing. You're living in an institution where your sex, your race, your religion, has nothing to do with it; it's about your abilities and what you achieve..."
As a woman training for the military, Cate was able to find her own strengths, and enhance them. It helped her realize that she could rely on herself when it came to overcoming anything. She felt that combining men and women during training knocked down many walls and misconceptions about women. The military really didn't contain discrimination. Everyone was treated equal.
"The military was the one place where it didn't matter who you were, where you came from, but it was about you as a person."

 

Overall, Cate felt that undergoing Army training was a positive, liberating experience. One thing she learned was that putting your mind to something can enable you to accomplish anything. A person in her situation might feel compelled to have to prove themselves to others, but not in Cate's case. Cate didn't feel that she had to prove anything to anyone except herself.