Col. Mark Horoho, commander of the 15th Signal Brigade presents his sister-in-law, Maj. Gen. Patricia Horoho, chief of the Army Nurse Corps and incoming U.S. Army Deputy Surgeon General a certificate of appreciation after Tuesday’s Women’s History Month program. Photo by Siobhan Carlile Although women have been involved in the military for more than a century, there are still women today who are blazing the trails for the women of tomorrow.

One such trailblazer is Maj. Gen. Patricia Horoho, chief of the Army Nurse Corps and incoming U.S. Army Deputy Surgeon General, who was the guest speaker at the March 2 Women’s History Month program at Alexander Hall.

“I was the first female commander of the 249th General Hospital at Fort Gordon and the first commander of the Walter Reed Health Care System,” said Horoho, whose brother-inlaw, Col. Mark Horoho is the commander of the 15th Signal Brigade.

Horoho thanked the women of the past and present and those who will carry the torch into the future during her presentation.

Among the women of the past who helped break through that glass ceiling were women such as Grace Banker, who as the head of the Signal Corps’ Hello Girls during World War I, was the only female in that fighting to receive the Distinguished Service Medal yet was denied veterans’ status after the war.

Also, Horoho honored Brig. Gen. Anna Mae Hayes, who was the first woman and first nurse in American military history to attain the rank of a general officer.

“She broke the glass ceiling. Now there is one four-star, two three-stars, five two-stars and 14 one-stars. We couldn’t have done it without them,” she said.

Women to look for in the future include Sgt. Leigh Anne Hester, who after helping her unit fight off on ambush in Iraq, became the first woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star Medal, and Spc. Monica Brown, who became the second woman since World War II to receive the Silver Star.

Horoho said it was the training the latter two women received which helped them when they needed it most.

Horoho said some of her most challenging times have later come back to help her when she needed it the most.

In working to receive her masters degree, Horoho tried writing papers on two different topics before situations beyond her control led her to shift gears and try for a third and leave her wondering if she’d ever attain that degree.

However, the research she’d done on those papers was not wasted. The knowledge she’d received came into play in big ways during the Pope Air Force Base crash of 1994 and while she was at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

“The challenges were met through defined character and the use of skill sets to make the entire team a better organization,” she said.

Horoho said she was glad to have been able to make a return trip to Fort Gordon.

“It’s a wonderful, wonderful feeling to be back here,” she said. “It’s a cohesive community that embraces our values and warrior ethos.”