Face of Defense: Top Female Cadet Looks Forward to Serving in Infantry

By Sean Kimmons, Army News Service

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- As a young girl, U.S. Military Academy Cadet Taylor England daydreamed about being in the infantry long before the Army opened all of its combat arms positions to women.

She wanted to lead troops in combat, shoot weapons and execute missions -- aspirations similar to those of her male counterparts.

“I wanted to be the person out there doing those things,” said England, 22, of South Lebanon, Ohio. “I didn’t want to sit back and relax.”

Her drive and competitive spirit led her to be valedictorian at her high school and later to the U.S. Military Academy here, where she is a regimental command sergeant major.

She also is the top-ranked cadet out of 230 others who have branched infantry. Rankings are based on a cadet’s cumulative performance of military skills, physical training and academic standing.

In her most recent physical training test, she maxed out at 360 points on a 300-point scale. Her 2-mile run was clocked in at 13:09, just nine seconds shy of the men’s fastest standard.

“I want to do a job and I want to do it well. It doesn’t matter that I’m a female,” she said. “I can do the same things a guy can do.”

Sandhurst

To broaden her leadership abilities, England volunteered to take charge of her company’s team in the Sandhurst Military Skills Competition last year.

The annual competition pits hundreds of cadets against each other in strenuous events over two days. While most cadets come from West Point, there are also teams from other service academies and ROTC detachments at universities across the country as well as several nations. Her squad ended up placing in the middle of the 60-squad field.

At this year’s competition, which ended April 14, she decided to go all in. She tried out and earned a spot on the Gold Team, which handpicks skilled competitors from across the academy. On a team of leaders, she had the opportunity to learn from others who were as ambitious as she is.

Throughout the competition, she said, there were times where she leaned on her teammates and vice versa for them to conduct all 11 events in a timely matter.

“It definitely prepares you to be an infantry officer because we’re doing infantry tactics,” she said of Sandhurst. “With the leading part, we all had to step up at different times and take the reins. We left it all out there.”

In his fourth Sandhurst competition, Cadet Eric Savini said England helped keep the team motivated when grueling tasks sapped the energy out of them.

England is typically the first-line supervisor to Savini, who is a battalion command sergeant major in the Corps of Cadets. But because of his past knowledge of Sandhurst, he was chosen as the team’s squad leader. He described England as a cadet who is physically fit and willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done. “We have been friends for over a year now,” said Savini, 22, of West Chester, Pennsylvania. “It’s good working with her.”

While their squad failed to win this year’s competition, it still had an impressive showing with a fifth-place finish out of 64 teams. It also gave England and her squad a useful lesson on teamwork.

“Working together in a team-oriented [competition] is the best thing you can experience,” England said afterward. “At the end of the day, that’s why I do it -- because of the people who I’m with.”

Italy Bound

England’s time at West Point almost did not happen. Initially, she thought about attending the U.S. Naval Academy until her strong interest in land warfare eventually sunk that idea.

“I decided to come here, because I would rather be about leading people than a boat,” she said, smiling.

In her sophomore year, her interest in joining the infantry grew even more when Capt. Kristen Griest, who later became the Army’s first female infantry officer, visited the academy. It was 2015, and Griest, along with Army 1st Lt. Shaye Haver, had just become the first women to earn the coveted Ranger tab.

A dozen women have now since graduated from the notoriously difficult Army Ranger School. In fiscal year 2016, for example, more than 4,000 personnel attended the school and only 36 percent of them graduated, according to Army statistics.

“It definitely lifted your spirits,” England recalled when both women passed the course.

One day, she said, she hopes to add a Ranger tab to her uniform, which already has Army parachutist and air assault badges sewn onto it. If the opportunity to attend the course does come up, she added, it should not matter that she is a woman.

“I don’t like focusing on that,” she said. “Overall, you go out there and do what you need to do, and if you’re prepared, you’ll get through it.”

Until then, England said, she expects to face other challenges. First, she needs to graduate from the Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course. Then, she will be a young lieutenant in the prestigious 173rd Airborne Brigade based at Vicenza, Italy, which is the Army’s contingency response force in Europe.

As the best Infantry cadet at the academy, she had the first pick for her duty station. While she sought to receive a posting at the 173rd brigade, the unit was not yet available to female Infantry officers. Then, in January, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley visited the academy.

As Milley greeted cadets at a dinner, he asked England where she hoped to be posted. She replied, “Italy, sir.” Shortly after, she said, Italy was opened up to female infantry officers.

“It was pretty awesome,” she said. “The best lieutenants end up in Italy. It’s definitely going to be a challenge, even if I wasn’t a female, because of the competition.”

With her dream of being an infantry leader drawing closer, England said, she remains aware of the difficult road ahead in a male-dominated career field.

Her competitive nature, though, looks forward to it.

“You just overcome it by being competent and being physical and showing them that you can do what they can do,” England said. “You’re not going to shy away from their resistance. You’re going to show them, ‘Hey, I’m here, and I’m ready to lead soldiers.’

She added, “Once they see enough females who can set the standard and keep the standard, it will just become like anything else.”

U.S., Thailand Commence Guardian Sea Exercise

ANDAMAN SEA -- The U.S. Navy and Royal Thai Navy began exercise Guardian Sea here yesterday.

The five-day antisubmarine and maritime domain awareness exercise will involve cooperative evolutions designed to enhance mutual capabilities in antisubmarine warfare while also improving information sharing between the two navies, officials said.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey, a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine and a P-8 Poseidon aircraft will be participating from the U.S. Navy. Participating Thai assets include helicopter carrier HTMS Chakri Naruebet, Khamronsin-class corvette HTMS Long Lom, Naresuan-class frigates HTMS Taksin and HTMS Naresuan, and an S-70B Seahawk helicopter.

‘Sophisticated, Robust Exercise’

“Guardian Sea is an increasingly sophisticated and robust exercise that enables the U.S. Navy and Royal Thai Navy to continue working closely together and learning from each other,” said Navy Capt. Lex Walker, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 7. “Each year, as allies, our two nations are becoming increasingly capable in mutually conducting antisubmarine warfare that ensures security and stability in the maritime domain.”

The two navies will conduct subject matter expert exchanges in every aspect of antisubmarine warfare focusing on tracking submarines in a variety of conditions and concludes with evolutions designed to incorporate learned techniques shared throughout Guardian Sea.

“The Royal Thai Navy and U.S. Navy continue to demonstrate a strong relationship in every aspect of maritime operations,” Royal Thai Navy Capt Anupong Taprasob said. “We are fully committed to further strengthening this partnership well into the future with even greater and more complex naval tactic as well as maritime security exercises each year.”

The U.S. Navy and the Royal Thai Navy conduct numerous annual engagements, including the bilateral and multilateral Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, which began in 1995, Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training, and Cobra Gold, the Indo-Pacific region’s largest multinational exercise.

“The P-8 Poseidon brings an unmatched maritime surveillance capability to a wide spectrum of operations, including antisubmarine warfare,” said Navy Cmdr Bryan Hager, commanding officer of Patrol Squadron 4. “We will be working side by side with our Royal Thai Navy counterparts through each mission and look forward to gaining and sharing knowledge.”

Air Guard, Reserve Wings Conduct Firefighting Training With Forest Service

By Air Force 2nd Lt. Emerson Marcus, 152nd Airlift Wing

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As temperatures heated up in northern California, aerial firefighters from four C-130 airlift wings operating the U.S. Forest Service‘s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System began a weeklong training exercise here April 23.

The training, sponsored by the Forest Service at McClellan Reload Base in Sacramento, includes four military airlift wings that make up the air expeditionary group: three Air National Guard units from California, Nevada and Wyoming, and one Air Force Reserve unit from Colorado.

“Training with all four MAFFS wings alongside the U.S. Forest Service, [the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection] and other wildland firefighting agencies here in Sacramento provides a significant opportunity as we prepare for wildland fire season,” said Air Force Col. James DeVere, commander of the MAFFS Air Expeditionary Group and the Air Force Reserve’s 302nd Airlift Wing.

Protecting Citizens, Property

“Training collectively ensures overall standardization of operations while continuing to build working relationships with the key players in the wildland firefighting community,” DeVere said. “It is rewarding as Guardsmen and reservists to stand alongside our agency partners, knowing that we help make a difference protecting our citizens and their property.”

The Forest Service’s MAFFS equipment -- rolled into the back of a C-130 aircraft -- can drop up to 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant in six seconds through a nozzle on the rear left side of the plane.

The certification training includes classroom sessions and flight operations for military flight crews, lead plane pilots and other support personnel from the U.S. Forest Service and other wildland firefighting agencies.

“Wildland fire management agencies have relied on MAFFS for more than 40 years to provide surge capacity when commercial air tankers are fully committed or not readily available, as they frequently are during periods of high wildfire activity,” said Kim Christensen, deputy assistant director for operations for the U.S. Forest Service. “Training that includes all of the military and civilian personnel that work together when MAFFS are mobilized is critical to ensure that military aircraft fly safely and effectively and that they can be seamlessly integrated into wildfire suppression operations.”

Participating airlift wings include three Air National Guard units -- the 146th Airlift Wing from Port Hueneme, California; the 152nd Airlift Wing from Reno, Nevada; the 153rd Airlift Wing from Cheyenne, Wyoming -- and the Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing from Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Training water drops will be executed on lands within the Tahoe and Shasta-Trinity national forests. California residents in these areas may see low-flying Forest Service lead planes and C-130s dropping water this week.

In the past decade, military C-130s equipped with MAFFS delivered more than 8 million gallons of fire retardant to aid in the suppression of wildfires around the United States.

MAFFS aircraft are activated to supplement commercial air tankers contracted by the Forest Service during periods of high wildfire activity throughout the nation. They are also activated by governors to assist with wildfire suppression in states where the Air National Guard units that provide the C-130s are located, including California.