West Point Names First Female Commandant

Two weeks after the Pentagon announced all combat jobs are now open to women, the Army appointed its first female commandant of cadets at West Point.  Brigadier General (BG) Diana Holland will become the 76th Commandant of Cadets in January of 2016.  As the commandant of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, BG Holland will oversee the discipline and training for the academy’s approximately 4,200 cadets.

This is not the first time BG Holland has broken down barriers for women in the Army.  Prior to being selected as the first female commandant, she was the first female general officer at Fort Drum, New York, and the first woman to serve as a deputy commanding general in one of the Army’s light infantry divisions.

About West Point:

The U. S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federal, liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City.  It was founded in 1802 as America’s first college of engineering and continues today as one of our nation’s premier leader-development institutions, consistently ranked among top colleges in the country.  Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the U. S. Army.