Military Women During Peacetime ... A Chronology

• 1947: lotus Mort becomes the first female warrant officer in the Corps.
• The Army-Navy Nurse Act of 1947 makes the Army Nurse Corps and Women's Medical Specialist Corps part of the Regular Army and gives permanent commissioned officer status to Army and Navy nurses.
• 1948: President Harry Truman signs Public Law 625 (the Women's Armed Services Integration Act) on June 30, 1948. It grants women permanent status in the Regular and Reserve forces of the Army, Navy and Marine Corp as well as the newly created Air Force.
• Colonel Katherine A. Towle declared the first Director of Women Marines.
• First group of women sworn into the regular Marine Corps
• Executive Order 9981 ends racial segregation in the armed services.
• 1949: The first African-American women enlist in the Marine Corps.
• Air Force Nurse Corps is established.
• 1953: The first woman physician is commissioned as a medical officer in the Regular Army.
• Navy Hospital Corps women are assigned positions aboard Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) ships for the first time.
• 1960: First woman Marine is promoted to E-9 — Master Gunnery Sergeant, Geraldine M. Moran.
• 1961: The first woman Marine is promoted to Sergeant Major (E-9) — Bertha Peters Billeb.
• 1965: The Marine Corps assigns the first woman to attaché duty. Later, she is the first woman Marine to serve under hostile fire. 
• 1967: President Johnson signs Pub.L. 90–130. This removes many of the restrictions on women in the military imposed by Public Law 625. Female officers can be promoted to (Colonel) and above.
• 1968: The first Air Force woman is sworn into the Air National Guard (ANG) with the passage of Public Law 90-130, which allows the ANG to enlist women.
• 1969: Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (AFROTC) opens to women.
• 1970: The first women in the history of the armed forces, the Chief of the Army Nurse Corps and the Women's Army Corps Director, are promoted to brigadier general.
• 1971: The first Air Force woman is promoted to brigadier general.
• An Air Force woman completes Aircraft Maintenance Officer's School and becomes the first woman aircraft maintenance officer.
• The first woman is assigned as a flight surgeon in the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve.
• A staff sergeant becomes the first female technician in the Air Force Reserve.
• 1972: The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) is opened to Army and Navy women.
• Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, publishes Z-116 declaring the Navy's commitment to equal rights and opportunities for women.
• The Hospital Ship USS Sanctuary is the first Naval vessel to sail with a male/female crew.
• The Navy promotes the first woman to rear admiral, Director of the Navy Nurse Corps.
• 1973: The end of draft and the establishment of the All Volunteer Force opens the door for expanding service women's roles and numbers.
• The first Navy women earn military pilot wings.
• The first woman in the history of the armed forces is promoted to major general.
• The Navy accepts its first woman chaplain.
• The Supreme Court rules unconstitutional inequities in benefits for the dependents of military women. Until then, military women with dependents were not authorized housing nor were their dependents eligible for the benefits and privileges afforded the dependents of male military members, such as medical, commissary and post exchange, etc.
• 1974: An Army woman becomes the first woman military helicopter pilot.
• 1975: The term Woman Marine is discontinued; all women in the Marine Corps are considered Marines. Women are allowed in every occupation or billet except Infantry, Artillery, and pilot-aircrew, because of general service restrictions.
• DoD reverses policies and provides pregnant women with the option of electing discharge or remaining on active duty. Previous policies required women be discharged upon pregnancy or the adoption of children.
• The Air Force places the first woman on operational crew status.
• 1976: Women are admitted to the service academies.
• The Navy promotes the first woman line officer to rear admiral.
• The Air Force selects the first woman reservist for the undergraduate pilot training program.
• 1977: The first Coast Guard women are assigned to sea duty as crew members aboard the USCGC Morgenthau and Gallatin.
• Military veteran status is granted to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) who flew during WWII.
• 1978: The Coast Guard opens all assignments to women.
• Colonel Margaret A. Brewer is promoted to Brigadier General, becoming the first woman Marine general officer
• The first Army woman is promoted to two-star general. She is also the first woman officer to command a major military installation.
• The Air Force Strategic Air Command (SAC) assigns the first woman aircrew member to alert duty.
• Judge John Sirica rules the law banning Navy women from ships to be unconstitutional. Congress amends the law by opening non combat ships to women. The USS Vulcan, a repair ship, receives the first of many Navy women to be assigned shipboard under the amended law.
• The Women's Army Corps (WAC) is disestablished and its members integrated into the Regular Army.
• 1979: An Army Nurse Corps officer becomes the first African-American woman brigadier general in the history of the armed forces.
• The first woman to command a military vessel assumes command of the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Cape Newagen.
• The first woman Naval aviator obtains carrier qualification.
• The Marine Corps assigns the first women as embassy guards.
• 1980: The first women graduate from the service academies.
• The first woman is assigned to command a Naval Training Command.
• 1982: The Air Force selects the first woman aviator for Test Pilot School.
• The Marine Corps prohibits women from serving as embassy guards.
• 1983: The first Navy woman completes Test Pilot School.
• Approximately 200 Army and Air Force women are among the forces deployed to Grenada on Operation Urgent Fury. Women serve on air crews, as military police, and as transportation specialists.
• The first woman in any reserve component, an Air Force Reserve officer, is promoted to brigadier general.
• 1984: For the first time in history, the Naval Academy's top graduate is a woman.
• A Coast Guard officer is the first woman to serve as a Presidential Military Aide.
• 1985: For the first time in history, the Coast Guard Academy's top graduate is a woman.
• Colonel Gail M. Reals is the first woman selected by a board of general officers to advance to brigadier general.
• The first Air Force Reserve nurse is promoted to brigadier general.
• 1986: Six Air Force women serve as pilots, copilots and boom operators on the KC-135 and KC-10 tankers that refuel FB-111s during the raid on Libya.
• For the first time in history, the Air Force Academy's top graduate is a woman.
• A Navy woman becomes the first female jet test pilot in any service.
• The Coast Guard's rescue swimmer program graduates its first woman.
• 1987: The Navy assigns its first woman Force Master Chief and Independent Duty Corpsman to serve at sea.
• The first enlisted woman is assigned as Officer-In-Charge aboard a Coast Guard vessel.
• 1988: NASA selects its first Navy woman as an astronaut.
• The Coast Guard's Chief Warrant Officer to Lieutenant program promotes its first woman.
• Marine women are again assigned as embassy guards.
• 1989: 770 women deploy to Panama in Operation Just Cause. Two women command Army companies in the operation and three women Army pilots are nominated for Air Medals. Two receive the Air Medal with "V" device for participation in a combat mission.
• For the first time in history, the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) names a woman as its Brigade Commander and First Captain.
• NASA selects its first Army woman as an astronaut.
• The Navy assigns its first woman as Command Master Chief at sea.
• A woman is the first person trained for a new specialty, Coast Guard Flight Officer. These officers are responsible for tactical coordination of the drug interdiction efforts aboard Coast Guard aircraft.
• 1990: Cmdr. Darlene Iskra becomes the first woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, the USS Opportune.
• Persian Gulf War (1990-1991): Some 40,000 American military women are deployed during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Two Army women are taken prisoner by the Iraqis.
• 1991: The Navy assigns the first women to command a Naval Station and an aviation squadron.
• The Air Force Reserve selects its first woman senior enlisted advisor.
• Congress repeals laws banning women from flying in combat.
• For the first time in history, a woman is named Brigade Commander at the Naval Academy.
• 1992: Brigadier General Carol A. Mutter assumes command of the 3d Force Service Support Group, Okinawa, the first woman to command a Fleet Marine Force unit at the flag level.
• The first active duty woman Coast Guard officer is promoted to captain (O-6).
• 1993: The Marine Corps opens pilot positions to women.
• 2nd Lieutenant Sarah Deal became the first woman Marine selected for Naval aviation training.
• Congress repeals the law banning women from duty on combat ships. Women deploy with the USS Fox.
• The first woman Naval aviator serves with a combat squadron.
• The first woman assumes command of a Naval base.
• The Army names a woman Drill Sergeant of the Year for the first time in the 24-year history of this competition.
• The Army assigned its first woman combat pilot.
• The Air Force assigns the first woman to command an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) unit.
• The first woman service secretary in the history of the armed forces is appointed.
• The first woman in any reserve component is promoted to major general.
• The Air Force assigns the first woman to command an air refueling unit.
• The Coast Guard promotes the first active duty woman to master chief.
• The Coast Guard assigns the first woman as Chief Judge.
• 1994: The USS Eisenhower is the first carrier to have permanent women crew members. Sixty-three women are initially assigned.
• 1994: Brigadier General Mutter became the first woman major general in the Marine Corps, and the senior woman on active duty in the armed services.
• The first woman assumes command of a Naval Air Station.
• The first woman, an Air Force major, copilots the space shuttle.
• The Air Force Reserve gets its first woman fighter pilot.
• 1995: An Air Force lieutenant colonel becomes the first woman space shuttle pilot.
• Sarah Deal becomes the first female Marine pilot to pin on Naval flight wings.
• The first African-American woman, an Air Force officer, is promoted to major general.
• 1996: Lieutenant General Mutter becomes the first woman Marine and the first woman in the history of the armed services to wear three stars.
• For the first time a woman fires Tomahawk cruise missiles from a warship in a combat zone.
• The first woman commands the Army's Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps.
• The first woman commands an operational flying wing.
• 1997: The Army promotes its first woman to lieutenant general.
• The Army assigns the first woman and the first non-doctor to command an Army hospital. 
• The first woman in history is appointed as a state adjutant general.
• The first women Marines attend Marine Combat Training.
• 1998: For the first time, a woman fighter pilot delivers a payload of missiles and laser-guided bombs in combat. She is in the first wave of U.S. strikes against Iraq in Operation Desert Fox.
• The Air National Guard promotes the first woman to major general.
• 1999: The Air Force promotes its first woman to lieutenant general.
• For the first time, a woman, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, commands the space shuttle.
• The first women graduate from the Virginia Military Institute and the Citadel.
• The first woman and first African-American commands the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Corps (NOAA).
• The first African-American woman is selected to command a Navy ship.
• 2000: The Air Force promotes the first woman pilot to brigadier general.
• The first Coast Guard women, an active duty officer and a reservist, are promoted to flag officer rank.
• Navy women are among the victims and heroes when the USS Cole is attacked by a suicide bomber in Yemen.
• The first woman commands a Navy warship at sea. The vessel is assigned to the sensitive Persian Gulf.
• The Army National Guard promotes the first woman to major general.
• 2001: The Army promotes the first woman to brigadier general in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. She is also the first Asian-Pacific-American woman promoted to brigadier general.
• An Air National Guard security force woman becomes the first woman to complete the counter-sniper course, the only military sniper program open to women.
• The U.S. Army Women's Museum opens at Ft. Lee, VA.
• Terrorists high jack four commercial aircraft, crash two into the World Trade Center, one into a field in Pennsylvania and one into the Pentagon. In the attack at the Pentagon 125 people were killed on the ground and 59 passengers lose their lives; ten active duty, reserve and retired servicewomen are among the casualties. Servicewomen are activated and deployed in support of the war on terrorism.
• 2002: An enlisted woman Marine is killed in an aircraft crash in Pakistan, the first woman to die in Operation Enduring Freedom, part of the Global War on Terror.
• The Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) is issued a new charter narrowing its focus to issues pertaining to military families, recruitment, readiness and retention. A retired Marine three-star general is appointed chairman of the new, downsized advisory committee.
• For the first time in its history, the Army National Guard promotes an African-American woman to the rank of brigadier general.
• For the first time in U.S. history, a woman becomes the top enlisted advisor
• in any of the military components. She is sworn in as the Command Sergeant Major of the U.S. Army Reserve.
• 2003: The first Native American servicewoman is killed in battle. She was one of three women who became prisoners of war during the first days of the war in Iraq.
• 2004: By year’s end, 19 servicewomen had been killed as a result of hostile action since the war in Iraq had begun in 2003, the most servicewomen to die as a result of hostile action in any war that the nation had participated. 
• The first woman in U.S. Air Force history takes command of a fighter squadron.
• 2005: The first woman in history is awarded the Silver Star for combat action. She is one of 14 women in U.S. history to receive the medal.
• An Air Force woman becomes the Air Force Academy’s Commandant of Cadets, the No. 2 position at the nation’s service academies. She is the first woman in the history of any of the academies to be appointed to this position.
• The first woman in U.S. Air Force history joins the prestigious USAF Air Demonstration Squadron “Thunderbirds.” She was also the first woman on any U.S. military high performance jet team. 
• 2006: The Coast Guard appoints the first woman Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, making her the first woman in history to serve as a deputy service chief in any of the U.S. Armed Forces.
• The Marine Corps assigns the first woman Marine in history to command a Recruit Depot.
• 2007: The first woman in U.S. Naval history takes command of a fighter squadron.
• The last woman veteran of World War I dies, a former yeoman (F).
• 2008: For the first time in U.S. military history, a woman is promoted to the rank of four-star general. She is promoted by the U.S. Army.
• 2013: Major Nicole Aunapu Mann becomes the first woman Marine officer to be accepted into the NASA space program as an astronaut.