During college, we raced against each other for different cross country teams, never knowing that we’d serve together in the same Marine Corps squadron years later. (Ky probably won.)
As Marines, we served as AH-1W (“Cobra” attack helicopter) pilots in the same squadron, never knowing that we’d find ourselves studying International Security through a gender lens as PhD students years later.
As PhD students and candidates, we reconnected as advocates for the full gender integration of the U.S. military, finding ourselves both studying how gender intersects with security.
And since then, we’ve written together, presented together, cried together, laughed together, and decided to build our dream project together. Along the way, as Marines, warfighters, and scholars, we’ve lost friends and peers, had relationships fracture and dreams shatter. But each hurt has taught us the value of diversity, and the importance of inclusion to security. We want to spend our lives building inclusive leadership as a path to peace.