Coast Guard Admiral becomes first female service chief

Admiral Linda L Fagan will shatter the military glass ceiling when she takes oath as commandant of the Coast Guard and become the first female officer to lead a branch of the American Armed Forces.

Admiral was previously the service's second in command and graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1985. She was in the sixth class that included women. She rose through the ranks by serving at sea on an icebreaker and ashore as a marine safety officer. She will be the 27th commandant of the service. Adm. Fagan took in the significance of her appointment by walking through a hall filled with portraits of her predecessors who were all men. She joined the academy when the Coast Guard no longer had policies that prevented women from serving, unlike the other branches of the military which at the time did. Female recruits were so unusual at the time that its fleet needed to be retrofitted with sleeping accommodations and bathroom facilities for women. 

Over the years female officers of Admirals command began taking charge of small clusters. Once the opportunity was presented to women, they soon realized that the main obstacle to reaching the commandant office was the number of users it took to gain equal experience. Today when Admiral Fagan takes her seat among the Joint Chiefs, she would have served roughly the same time as them. 

Source: The New York Times