you've heard from a number of folks today about doing things that have in some respects, never been done before, facing challenges that have never been faced before, and making decisions that have never needed to be made before. we've got some a particularly interesting panel here to finish out this day on people that face their own set of challenges as they contributed in their individual fields, rose up and head on occasion needed to push back so that they could move forward. so i'm very pleased to introduce dr. sarah spradlin. yep. all right. i got it right. i'm a marine corps veteran, and she will introduce her panel. so thank you very much from. thank you. thank you. we are very excited to be here

today and i really first want to start out and say that on behalf of this panel, this remarkable group of women that i have the honor and privilege to call my sisters in soft service. we welcome you to this discussion on women soft and before we get started, while i still have the floor, i would like to give a shout out to a group of cadets here that hold a very special place in my heart, because i am very proud graduate of the virginia tech corps cadets. and so to all my hokies, salute pros m and semper fidelis, and i look forward to talking with me here today. we have first and foremost as lieutenant commander kathleen cox. lieutenant commander alex

dietrich. major katie hernandez. and last but certainly not least, colonel allison black. and so as we start this panel discussion, we think about we have this amazing opportunity to acknowledge and discuss the the contribution tions of women in special operations and it's been noted this term, right? so on the paperwork it says this term trailblazer. and i think i speak for all of us when i say that, although in today's day and age, we have certainly created some heat and contributed to some some firsts and some changes which has been great. but we you know, we did not get

here without walking the path of many, many women who came before us. and and not just the women who came before us, but also the men and women who helped shaped the policies, gave us the opportunities to get here. and there's five of us on this panel today. but the truth is, we are really the face, the voice of a larger collective. there are so many other women out there that are serving directly and indirectly in support of special operations. and so this this concept of women in sof is is really fascinating. and the first thing i'd like to do is open it up to all of you and ask what does that mean? what does this concept what does women in sof mean to you? and so i'd like to turn it over to kathleen to get us started, because kathleen also serves as the women and staff lead for an outreach program with nsw. and so for you, what, what does this concept women in sof mean to you, kathleen.

yeah, thank you. welcome, everybody. thanks for the introduction. honored to be here. the biggest thing about what we call it, why sof and naval special warfare women and special operations is that it is the opportunity to experience being a part of the highest, most elite performing team that really is a family. and it's an opportunity to challenge yourself. it's an opportunity to forge your own legacy. and i think that all of that wrapped into one is a way to just really hyperspeed your life and be a part of the best team, which ultimately i've always said i will do anything as long as i'm surrounded by people that i love. while i'm doing it and anything i will be smiling about it. and i, i feel that way every day. i've had naval special warfare now for, i think nine years so it's the best. see, that's the simplest way to say it. i love it. alex, how about you?

so i came from a convention hall background. i was a strike fighter aviator before i did my boots on ground tours in afghanistan, working with the seals and army eod guys where they gave me an m two or three grenade launcher and said, good luck. and i said, this is not what i would do flight school for, but what i learned in working with the seals, especially is that when we're talking about special operations, when we're talking about the missions that we're going out on, they really are irregular. and i spent some time in the pentagon with the navy irregular warfare office, and people would say, well, what is regular warfare? and i would say, well, that's all the stuff that you think of when you think of the military. you think of tanks and ships and aircraft. but the irregular stuff in the special operations are is is all the interstitial spaces in between where things actually get done. and the point that i'm trying to get to there is that you can't do that alone and you can't do that as an individual and you

can't do that as a monochromatic team. even you need have that diversity if you're operating a place like afghanistan, where i was, 50% of the population was women and our guys could not go up to and interact with 50% of the population on their own. they needed to have other women from our side, from our our team to have that interaction. and so, of course, it makes sense to me to have women integrated and working with and for these missions because they are essential. thank you, katie. i everyone major caitlin hernandez. i have been in the military for a dozen years now and i've been exposed to ordnance disposal and i have had the privilege of supporting sof for the better

part of a decade. so what women in sof means to me it means an evolution. it means that we have a responsibility and that responsibility really entails leveraging that diversity and being able to leverage it in a way that creates a unified and strengthened team. and for me, lastly, it doesn't mean just about breaking through stereotypes. it really means setting a new standard for what excellence looks like in the face of challenges that we face. you know, that's great. nailed it. i think i have been honored to serve for over 32 years. i just recently hung up my activity cleats. one october of 24 and i spent 24 years in sof and what women and soft to me is a team. i was just a woman in socks. we don't care what you look

like. are you good at what you do? if you are? we want you on the team. our number one soft truth is that humans are more important than hardware and that's not just a bumper sticker. we believe in that. we invest in our people, in our training. and through that training, forge relationships in service, army, navy, air force, marines, our space force, our coast guard, our first responders. we forge those relationships in training. so that we can show up anywhere in the world and have that trust and that camaraderie. and i could stand side by side with a ranger or a green beret, a navy seal, another air force combat controller. it did not matter because we represented a mission capability and together we got the mission done. i love it. i was waiting for somebody to start talking soft truths. yeah. later when that was going to happen. so now that's great. we, you know, we started out the dialog talking about the

collective, the women in sof as a group, right? as, as a collective, but what is, what's beautiful about this representation in the sample population of women in sof is that we are all so incredibly different, right? i mean, we're one group with one title of women in sof, but individus really, i mean, we are from all different services, we have different mosses, we have different educational backgrounds, you know, i mean, we go on and on about just how different we are individually. and so the question that i pose to all of you now is individually, what are those defining moments or the defining moments that really helped shape the journey to get you here today, to be a part of collective. so whoever wants to start, anybody in particular, ah, i'll jump in. thanks, allison. huh? i've lead by not.

it's now one defining moment. now i am a work in progress and i feel honestly feel uncomfortable telling my story. that's not what we do because we pride ourselves in being a quiet professional. the mission gets done and we and we fade into the shadows. but i have embraced the ability to speak about my experiences because i get to represent everybody that is invested in me. i am part greasy fingerprints all over, a lot of raw, unfiltered feedback over the years. i like to win. who doesn't? nobody shows up. you know, mission, danger. hey, we're going to we're going to screw this up and i'm going to be so much fun. we go out there to deliver. but when it doesn't go right and we fail, it's what we do in that moment. and then it's your teammates to your left and right that that bond we learn from each other successes and failures to be stronger the next day.

so it's a culmination of a career of of experiences, highs and lows that have really defined who i am. and maybe because i'm looking in the rearview mirror being very to reflect live of my journey, coming in at 18 years old, i never thought i would have served as long as i did. and it is it's all i know, but it's just part of who i and opportunities like to pay it forward to share with the future generation is pretty pretty pretty rewarding. yeah. i mean, alison, you touched on a really interesting idea whether you're looking at this in hindsight or forward, you don't plan to necessarily go to places where you're going to excel or where you know it's going to lead you down a path that you look back and say, how did i get here? i love that i did, but how did i get here? and so i think a lot of times it's not so much going after these specific, defining moments as much as it is identifying dying, your passion, your

purpose, have a plan, own it, and be the best source is the elite tip of the spear. be the best at what ever it is in that moment. and it really will just unexpected only take you down. a continued path of greatness, right? i mean, show me your friends and i'll show you your future kind of thing. you know, you just keep surrounding yourself with those kind of people and just being on, you know, unintentionally great. and you will look back and go, how did i get there? i didn't plan that right. just like you're talking about just having those friends. anybody else have thoughts on that? those defining? yeah, i appreciate everything you said speaking to my heart, and i hope she's speaking to you guys directly too. if i had to pick a defining moment for me, it was. i was in afghanistan 2018. i had a soldier killed in action, stepped on an ied and

for explosive ordnance disposal. so we mourned the loss of our friend. however, we didn't have very long to mourn. about 24 hours later, we had another mission. and as a leader, you're going to be faced with many challenges such as that. how are you going to motivate and service when you're faced with those adversities? and so one piece of advice, from what i have learned is to recognize mental and suicide prevention techniques within your formations outside of what i do with the suit on, a lot of what i do is being advocates for making those types of scenarios and mental health more common to talk about. so i really wanted to share that message today. if i said nothing else. so you once your leader,

understand that that's going to be a huge part of your responsibility of it. any other thoughts? i just really agree and i want you as you age, i'm aging. we're all aging, i guess. and especially to the men and the women that are looking to serve in the future and looking at special operations. what i reflect on my life every year, i think i'm getting a little bit smarter, a little bit wiser, reflecting on my experiences. if you ask me what my defining moment i probably could have picked this moment of glory when i was in my twenties. but right now, the moments that led me to this point that i'm the most proud of myself for are the failures. and i think that f word is not most of the cadets, the midshipmen, the younger folks here, they're not used to that word because you got where you are today, because you probably

succeeded a lot and worked really hard and had a lot of successes. but if you want to go into special operations, the f word you have to see failure is something is your biggest opportunity for forward movement in your life. my life the defining moments are micro failures compounded and that moment where you yourself look in the mirror and you say, okay, i, i accept defeat here. what went wrong? how do i go forward? and that's the moment that defines you how you how you and what you do afterwards. and if you think you haven't failed, you're probably need a little bit more reflecting to do because i feel like my best me were right after failure and there's a lot of them and they continue and that really just defines you can't be scared of that if it's what you want to do in your heart is set on it and it's and it lights your fire go into it give 100% prepare work hard resilience grit,

failure. always be there when you meet it face on it right. go get it. get up, brush your knees off and go forward. and that's what defines you and i love it. i love it. alex any final thoughts? i'll just speak to the midshipmen cadets in the room. the younger generation. and when i was in your shoes, i was in an rotc program and i went that path not because i necessarily wanted to serve, but because i was very selfish. i was very self-centered, and i wanted to have an adventure. i wanted to fly because it sounded cool i wanted to go into the navy. i wanted to travel the world and i graduated and commissioned in may of thousand and one. i went down two flight school, pensacola florida, started on the ground, school, and i had my

first flight on 911. and so that for me was the paradigm shift. that was the moment where i realized it's not about me. i am a part of something bigger than myself. i've raised my hand. i've taken an oath and i better figure out pretty darn quick what that means and how i'm going to contribute in a meaningful and so no matter what you think you're going to do and what path you think you're on. you cannot know what the future holds, what those opportunity will be, the failures that you will make, things that are outside of your control. but what you can't control is showing in each and every one of those moments. and that's the recommendation or the advice that i would give to you. yeah, absolutely. show up on it. take accountability for every step along the way. surround yourself with just amazing people that make you to

be bigger, better, faster, stronger, smarter. so they stretch you. so they give you that feedback that you're all talking about and give you the opportunity to to fail gracefully and come back on top. right. that's great. so we talk about hindsight, defining moments in the past. and so with a little bit of time that we have left, i want us to look into the future and. you know, we think about where we've been, where we are and this, you know, really idea of of soft troops and women. soft, right. so, you know, the definition of of the first soft truths being humans are more important than hardware. it goes on to talk about, you know, the right people, not the right men, not the right women, the right people in, the right teams going to do great things. and the second soft truth then goes on to. talk about the idea of equality, quantity, right? and so we can continue to compound this concept when it

comes to women in soft and just the area which we can add value right in the past and currently and then thinking about where are we going to add that value the future, how is it going to evolve especially under standing that we're we're really focused on this you know this triad of of soft right that's where we're at right now. and when we think about capability sets for future self up you know operators and enablers men women what does that look like? what does women in soft look like moving forward forward? i think it's so we elite teams, right? we're in the business of building elite teams. we're in the business of answering the nation's call and solving hard problems. so when you think about a leaders are problem solvers, you're all leaders. you're all problem solvers. we've all been given things to

to fix or to solve. when we had no idea how to do. and you don't have to be the expert because you have teammates to your left and right that will help you solve those problems and present solutions to the commanders. and i think the diversity, the gender in this case, we're talking about women, but it's a diversity and background diversity in where you grew up inner city, in the suburbs, in the middle of the country, whether you grew up with a lot of money or you grew up with no money and no food in your pants, you like those things, define who you are when you show up onto this team, the way you problem solve is a a a reflection of your background. and in this case, as a woman, we just think differently than men. we and that's a good thing. we need men. we need people, all kinds, because we become lethal problem solvers that way. and when the nation calls, get to you in salt lake, we get to be on that leading edge to go do

the bidding and. that's that's rewarding. we don't want it in the headlines. in fact, it's in the headlines. it's probably no good. we're in the shadows. and that's great place to operate and live so as i look at the youth in room like, it's pretty inspiring and like, we want you on this team, but we can train you. there's like there's books on how to train physically and skills set, but you've got to have it here and you got to have it here and you can't just have it in those places monday, wednesday, friday. we want it all the because it's probably going gritty. it's probably going to be dirty. so train hard, find it in your heart, in your mind, your spirit i there's nothing that can't stop you and then my last piece on that portion is we talked we had mentioned failure like. when you fail like fail forward, take that next step as humbling and have your pity party. because we all do. we're human.

you have to battle against yourself in the idea that you're not adequate, right? the imposter syndrome. i'm not strong enough, fast enough, smart enough. all those things like lean in, right? and never say this, never ever say i quit and trust your training. trust to keep. yeah. ladies in the future self was that look like to you. i just want to say we not only do we think differently we communicate differently. yeah and so that's something that i saw especially again in aviation. we follow checklists differently. we have a different approach to safety. and so there's a lot of that that we bring and that we value and there's no like now the rules have it's open, there's opportunity now you just got to want it. yeah, yeah. just to continue with your bring your biases the table. a lot of times people try to bring their own bias and they go, i don't want to be biased going into this challenger, into this, but bring it bring your

diverse backgrounds and and to continue with that, you know, be a i call it a blank page warrior, you know, your going to be handed problems with literally nothing and you're going to have to come up with solutions. so continue to push past you the challenges that you're and you know, provide solutions to your to your leaders and, you know, be a good person i would offer to not be careful about shutting people down when bring those ideas to the table, because if you shut people down, that means you're not approachable and they're less likely to bring that idea the next time. so you, as leaders, need be approachable and open up that room for those even if it's a crazy idea. you know, you need all you need a facility. those conversations, i think the future of sof is going to be in the hands of all the young leaders that we see in this

room. so i would i would say, please take care of it. the great thing about special operations and naval special warfare is that have standards and those standards there for a reason because we have to be this elite exclusive force and guess what those standards have nothing to with race or gender or ethnicity or views or anything. it's all can you meet those standards? and if you do that, we know that you can be a part of that family and you can uphold the legacy that so many have fought for before us and continue to fight for today. so it's going to evolve with technology, with warfare, changing everything, but it doesn't matter because as long as those standards hold, you can meet those standards. you just have to work hard for you have to have grit and then that's the glory of it.

and i look forward to seeing where it goes in the hands of the future leaders and some of them are probably in this room. and when you offer would offer on the standard part is that those standards aren't just like shake it up and let's make up some standards. those are tied to operational requirements and they evolve with the technology you mentioned, right, as equipment lighter, leaner, plug and so depending on what your mission requires of, you will drive a standard that you need to attain. and the challenge to is not just meet the standard exceed the standard don't let anybody second guess whether you're capable or not exceed it. and then it will be, no question, you know, and to your point, the stand is not solely physicality. that's right. right. i mean, it is that is such a comprehensive, interdisciplinary to excellence. you know, i remember two years ago at the special operation forces industry conference week,

a soft week. i, i spent two days in panel discussions like this where the focus was cognitive warrior, the cognitive, you know, the future, the cognitive whole warrior concept, warrior toughness. absolutely. i mean, it was it was well outside, the scope of just standalone, you know, physicality or, you know, technical course, the, you know, the technology is vital. but it was just this comprehensive nature where the, you know, the psychology and the in the cognitive and physical nature was combined into an interdisciplinary approach. and that is only continue to evolve. you know, when we think about women in sof and the future of women in sof and you talk about being able to be those lethal problem solvers, you know, part of it's part of the puzzle. it's part of the lethal problem puzzle. and that's having this diverse cognitive warrior on the team with you in in order to to create that he quietly and

powerfully teaching mentoring and advising at the naval academy. i would have a lot of really fit individuals come into my office and want me to help them with their for the initial summer meeting we called mini buzz. and they would have these really impressive, you know, varsity athletes there for scores that was all great. and then i would just of rip that up and say, well, what else you have? and that's, you know, and i say, how many languages do you speak have? you gotten your scuba qual? have you done a study abroad? show me that you are a well-rounded individual and, that you are capable, you have that capacity from a cognitive perspective, that you have the grit, hardiness, resilience and mindfulness that we need. do you have a meditation

practice? you know, what is your faith? not from a religious standpoint, but a spirituality. and, you know, i'd say, come back in three months, come back in six months, and talk. and a lot of them didn't. and you could see that they were one dimensional and not what need and so whether it's male or female, you know, really thinking about what can do in your personal professional development to make yourself that multidimensional, full holistic whole endeavor full. yeah, that's great advice. so we've only got a couple of minutes. and speaking advice. i think we should wrap up with one final takeaway that you want to share with the group alison, do you have a well, we'll start at your end and work back this way. do you have one final piece of advice for the audience on women in soft chase your dreams and have no regrets if there's something want to do, want to

learn, place to be like go do it. if that person in your path can't tell you yes and they can't tell you no, you will be more likely your own worst enemy in your capabilities. but you've got this, i think. who know? i grew up and really my entire career was the war on terrorism i counterterrorism the fight is not going anywhere. it's going to change and it is changing. and now we're in this spirit of or this time of competition and near-peer competitors or peer competitors. i would offer this to you. i don't care. the problem comes from whether space, whether it's air or whether it's ground sea or subsurface, like you all will solve those problems. i guarantee it. i can look around this room and see it in your eyes. you will. we had no idea what was coming

on september 10th, but on september 11th we wrapped our start to wrap our brains and our arms around what that what fight was what was going to be we problem solved and we morphed in our equipment. more people, more you will do the same thing. don't let it. don't let it slow you down. lean into. it does a lot of it by following learning how to get a piece of it. take so some for the future prepare for challenges and i think we've touched a bit on that whether that's preparing mentally physically emotionally you have to show up every single day but don't let those challenges define you. don't let those failures define you. do everything with whether that's making your bed or putting this uniform on and showing up to your first unit, people will notice when you show up and give 100% and we live in

the greatest country in the world. so i be honored and privileged to put this on every day. i know. i am i. god bless america. well, you hear my advice would be not to take yourself so seriously when you are in really situations and when things just are really, really low keeping a good sense of humor and being able connect have that bond of with your teammates can be really helpful and get you through tough times so. fight hard play hard and and always keep smiling. so i have four kids one of them actually went to the naval academy for two years. my advice to to her and what i would say i give to all this

group that's going to be future leaders is when you find something you want to do and you're really passionate about, it and it's you want to do it not your parents, not your coaches, not your friend group, not your social media, influencer, cut the noise out and just do and make sure that when you decide that you want to make a change in life that it has it's coming from here not from your phone, your social media accounts, your friends, anybody else. because at the end of the day, you're answering to what you are doing in this world and what you've put out there. and your greatest regret is going to be choosing not to do something because you were listening to all the noise around you and you don't want that regret. and it's it's very for this in this day and age as a young leader to to cut that noise out because, it's everywhere.

right? so if you feel that internal battle of you're making a decision, who are you it for? because it's your life let someone else make their own decisions on their own life. and don't be afraid of being the first or being the only person that that's like you in that room. you'll find those commonalities at whole imposter syndrome thing. i eat that for breakfast. if it's not fueling you, you're probably not pushing yourself. that would be my my honest advice to my kids and to every single one of the young leaders in this room. yeah, it's great, because i think at the end of the day, it takes us a long time to realize that each and every one of you in this room is the world's most renowned subject matter expert. in one thing. and that's you. nobody knows you ever better than you know yourself. and it has the capability to know yourself like you do and to be able to yourself wherever it

is that you want your journey to go. so, ladies, i am grateful to spend the last 45 minutes on the stage with you and we are thankful for all. this. there is reason. thank you very much. you know, i asked him not to leave because we're going to some of the students have to leave. they've got busses to take. but many of you will still be here. and we've got a couple of announcements that need to be made for everyone. so we're going to get those and. then we're going to come back for some q&a. and that's why i ask you not to leave. now, that's assuming that you don't have to leave. so if you'd if you do have to leave, i'm sorry, but. but otherwise i hope you'll stick around and we'll have a crawl out of a house. shawn comes up here and gives us an update on rooms and keys, all

those other things, and then we've got to know what time the busses are leaving for the embassy reception this evening. so john. but first of all, you guys. all right, so we've got students happily. we're to do the q&a first. so it's hard for me to see from up here. but yes, i try not to throw. all. they're going to give to go on stage. thank you all. oh, i would like to make a small comment here because what the moderator what the moderator not mention is that routine. and commander cox is the first female commanding officer within

naval special warfare of unit, and she is in charge in charge of navy seals. so that was me. so i just try to correct that think and i think that's all i have to say. thank. oh, and. lieutenant commander, nice speak for fellow seals who are in this room as well. it would be honor to serve under your command. thank you. thank you. thank you. bravo. what great way to start. how for hands for we have to be right in front of scott of course, this is a statement. this is not a question i'm running from world war two and we opened doors. we helped open doors for women. and we're just so proud of what you're doing i mean, we had to do the ball. and, boy, you've really taken it. and we're so proud of you.

thank you. we're with you on the walls. please introduce yourself. question michelle and lois from the united states naval academy. i'm so thankful to be a part of your panel. i was truly inspired and empowered by all of you. i'm i was wondering, how were you guys able to balance going after an aspiring for your dreams and also your personal family life. thank you i got this she teach me i have three children. i was a strike fighter. i did this interesting dynamic tour on the ground and now i'm living the charmed life of an academic. and i have students who are always like, oh, do you do it? how'd you do it all? you can have it all. you can't have it all at once.

you cannot have it all at once. so set your expected sessions and pace yourself. i was flying f-18s off of a ship single in my twenties. i had a cat at the time, very high maintenance cat, but i didn't start having my kids until my late thirties. and so this expectation that goes to social media and all of the the expectations that are put on us by other people, other people's problems, other people's, you need to just set those and say, here's what i'm doing. i'm showing up for me and team and my mission. now in this moment and that will day by day, brick by brick, build a life, build a career. and so can have it all. you can't have it all at once. there's no right answer. it's just what's right for you in that moment.

yeah. and outsource. this you got to pay people to do. yeah, i don't, i do not cook, i do not clean, i pay people to do that for me so that i can do the job, that i'm good at doing. do not want me cooking for questions. there's one. there's one on the side. we're not there now. it's coming out. i like it. afternoon. i'm jay nolan from virginia tech, sophomore cadet and you guys mentioned a couple of times about how people are typically sometimes who are interested in this kind of stuff, very one dimensional, right. and my question about that is how does knowing thyself come into play with that? like, so how is knowing thyself and knowing my strengths and weaknesses come into countering that one dimensionality. it's a great question. you have read tzu, i yeah.

i mean, in all seriousness, it absolutely it's fun to mental to this this concept of evolving yourself and really being able to to take yourself to a point where you you can transition from being both internally aware as well as being, you know, having a sense of external awareness and where those, those two pieces of what you know about you and what other people perceive of you start to coincide right? and they converge. and that is that is that is to your ability to evolve into more of a multi, you know, a multidimensional or even an inter disciplinary optimize. individual. for first off, that's great question. yeah. and just to finish that history theory doctrine. know your history, know how we got to be where we are. understand the theory that went behind all those decisions.

the great commanders before us had to make doctrine. know your doctrine. you guys probably will want to dig into it for a while, but i promise that is that is our rule book understand how it works and then practice put all those together and practice it every single day. just practice it every single day. i would also pile on to that feedback. right? so you will likely always get feedback from above whether we want it or not. you'll get some from your peers, but as you go out, get feedback from below from the people that you're leading understand, meet your people where they're at. i know when you're hitting the mark and when you're not in that they may reveal those gaps in your game that you need to reinforce. so the higher up, the higher be getting rank or position, the longer you've around, the less feedback you get. so not only seek it out but also provide it to your bosses, provide it to your peers, all, you know, all directions.

and they will respect that because i know look for that feedback from you because if your leadership is providing good direction or they're missing the mark and nobody tells them nothing is going to get fixed. so you leaders, if you're not getting that feedback, you don't know you have a gap in your game, never going to fix it, but you have to facilitate an environment to the feedback. and i think you do that by giving it, being honest, being. thank you, guys. last question. see none. i want to again express my appreciation for you sharing your experiences and your views. a lot of great lessons, not just for the military, but for personal lessons, whether it's in industry, foreign affairs, whatever it might be. great lessons that we have learned from you today. we thank you very much for sharing. thank you for.