COMMONALITY AMONG WOMEN TO CLEAR PATH FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOW

The Los Angeles Air Force Base issued the following news money clips:

The roles women have filled throughout America's history have evolved as our society as a whole has evolved. The change in those roles is none too evident than in the positions women hold in the Air Force and the aerospace industry today.

In celebration of Women's History Month, the Space and Missile Systems Center hosted a panel discussion entitled "My Life, Our Legacy," giving four women the opportunity to share their individual stories. Demonstrating examples of challenge, opportunity, balance and difficult choices, these women showcased the opportunities available today that were only aspirations for women of yesterday; and encouraged the women of younger generations, whose choices would pave the way for the women of tomorrow, to make their own path.

Each panel member had a very different story: a retired general who joined ROTC when it was first offered to women at Indiana University and turned a scholarship into a fruitful career; the chemist who followed her husband to Los Angeles and established herself as an accomplished scientist and business manager; a chief master sergeant who joined the Air Force in her late 20s and discovered a continuous flow of opportunity; and the woman who dreamed of being an astronaut as a child and instead became the first cheap bangles and combat-ready female pilot of the F-22 Raptor.

No matter where these women began their lives or where their careers have taken them, they each share something very special with one another: the commonality of clearing the paths for the women who will follow in their footsteps.

Doing whatever it takes to remove the obstacles as you face them so that those following your lead will not have to face them, especially if they're unfair and unwarranted, was Chief Master Sgt. Patricia Thornton's resonating message. "You make sure that pathway is clear. And that means that you need to have a backbone because people are going to tell you 'no' over and over and over again, and you better know how to get them to say 'yes,'" she said.

Retired Brig. Gen. Katherine Roberts, Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition director, National Reconnaissance Office, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space in Chantilly, Va., shared her story of a career that was a "means to an end." From turning an ROTC scholarship service obligation into a cheap bracelets of longevity, to experiencing the shift of leadership roles filled strictly by men to those shared among men and women, Roberts explained that through it all, the key to having a meaningful career is having a very clear understanding of what you label as the ends and what you label as the means.