Her Occupation? Warrior.

Last week, I penned a newsletter detailing the life and tragic passing of Senior Chief Petty Officer Shannon Kent.

You can read that newsletter here, if you missed it.

SCPO Kent’s story hit me the same as all the other stories of my lost bothers and sisters in arms (which is to say I was saddened to hear it). I happened to feature the Senior Chief’s story in my newsletter last week because I’d heard about her death, and because she reminded me so much of the heroes I’m wiring about in my current series.

As chance would have it, not even a week after my newsletter came out, SCPO Kent’s husband Joe Kent (a prior service Green Beret and now, tragically, a gold-star spouse) wrote an editorial piece in the Military Times.

The subject?

The very first woman in history to *officially pass the Army’s Special Forces ‘Q’ course, otherwise know as the Green Beret Qualification course.

To paraphrase Morpheus from The Matrix, maybe it was providence? I say that only because if you’re read any of my latest series, you know that I happen to have a female Green Beret as an (almost) main character. Sergeant First Class Gina ‘Zombie’ Romero is that character’s name. Truth be told, Gina’s crass personality , her tactical skills, her irreverent mouth, and her equally irreverent bravery make her one of my favorites.

SFC Romero is, of course, a fictional character. She exists in a world full of intergalactic travel and futuristic combat. One populated by people and creatures form other planets. One set 500 years in the future, and one where women are commonplace in Earth’s SF (Special Forces).

At the time I was writing Gina’s character, I thought I was writing science fiction.

It's funny how fiction can so quickly turn to fact, isn’t it?

Given the advances in science and athletics, the leaps and bounds we’ve made in exceeding the limitations of the human body, and the fact that women have been serving on the front lines for much longer than most folks want to admit, this latest female soldier making the SF cut shouldn't have come as too great a surprise.

She may be the first, but I'm certain she won't be the last.

For the original article on Senior Chief Kent, go here.

Her husband Joe’s Op ed can be found here.

This is the link to my Facebook page’s post on this same topic. You can read that here if you’re interested.

And last but not least, you’ll notice I placed an asterisk next to the line above concerning the first officially recognized female Green Beret. It may surprise you to know that there was a soldier back in the 80’s who was the actual first female Green Beret. As it turns out, the Army screwed her over pretty badly. But you can learn more about an incredible warrior named Captain Kathleen Wilder by clicking here.