Women are breaking the glass ceiling in all areas, and now a woman will head the US Army Reserve for the first time in 112 years.
Lieutenant General Jody Daniels become the first woman in history to receive the honor after she was promoted to lieutenant general on July 21, meaning she will be in charge of 200,000 soldiers in the US and overseas, per USA Today.
Until yesterday, Daniels had been the commander of the reserve's 88th Regional Readiness Division and had previously occupied the role of Chief of Staff for Army Forces Command.
The Reserve Forces Policy Board has reported that the 58-year-old has 35 years of active service and will be taking over the three-star position from Lt. Gen. Charles Luckey, who has been leading the reserves for four years.
"This is a reflection of women continuing to rise through the ranks and attain the highest level of the pyramid," he said.
According to reports, women make up 20% of the US Army, and Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels' promotion represents the efforts the army is making to diversify its ranks.
In an interview with USA Today, Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that he hopes this will pave the way for more women to obtain senior roles in upcoming years.
The United States Army released the following statement after the 58-year-old's promotion detailing her impressive career. It reads:
"[Daniels] commanded the 87th Army Reserve Support Command (East), in Birmingham, Alabama; was deputy commanding general of First Army Division East at Fort Meade, Maryland; and was commander of the Theater Support Command, which consisted of 11 military intelligence battalions.
"Daniels was chief of plans and integration and later director of intelligence for the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq in Baghdad. She also has deployed to Kosovo.
"In her civilian career, Daniels was director of advanced programs for Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Laboratories and led the defense contractor’s Contextual Systems Laboratory. She also was a manager and engineer in the company's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Daniels has also served on the Defense Advanced Research Programs Agency's Information Science and Technology Review Board and on Drexel University’s Computer Science Department Advisory Board."
USA Today reports that Daniels' husband John McCarthy, 57, a retired Army colonel, said that she will make a great commander.
He said: "She's intuitive. She's a negotiator. And she just sops up information like nobody's business."
The ceremony to officiate Lt. Gen. Jody Daniels' promotion will take place on July 28, however, its size will be smaller than usual due to the ongoing pandemic.