Past Your Peak: A Female Perspective
Haveyou ever noticed that asking a woman her age can be a sensitive subject? If time and aging is such a cruelenemy, why do most women embrace the wisdom that is learned from thisinevitable process? On the topic of leading past your peak, I can’t help but tonotice some of the challenge’s women face. For the sake of this argument let’stake a female Chief Master Sergeant, who has served 25 years in the UnitedStates Air Force.
Knowingthat only 1% of the Air Force’s enlisted make it to the rank of Chief MasterSergeant, and only 18% of the Enlisted Corps are females, seeing a female ChiefMaster Sergeant is almost like seeing a unicorn. For her to peak at thisrank, not be upset, and walk away feeling accomplished and content, is actuallypretty realistic, and I’ll tell you why.
Let’stake into consideration the battles this woman probably had to face. Dependingon what job shehad, she was probably in a male dominated career field the moment she enteredthe military. She also probably dealt with insecurities about fitting in andwondered if she was capable of doing the job like her male counterparts. If shehad children at any time, she probably dealt with a huge set back due to thetime off she took to have the child and the time off needed to heal and buildbond that’s critically important for the child’s development. Her body probablywent through weight and hormonal changes, all while trying to keep ittogether, so that her work center treated her like a contributing member of theteam.
I may begeneralizing, but I bet any woman in the military can relate to at least one ofthe battles mentioned above. With challenges and battles that are typicallyout of their control, how does a military woman grow enough to feelaccomplished when they age past their peak?
Womenare a truly resilient species; they can give birth for crying out loud. The physical challenges theyexperience every month since the average age of 12 has taught women to bepatient, tactical, and resourceful. At a very young age women are having todeal with the short end of the stick, and society doesn’t help with theirskewed views on gender roles. Women are put into categories, especially in thework environment. You are either hysterical, emotional, or weak. It’s liketrying to run a race with both your feet tied and blindfolded, and if they shouldever complain, they get put into the above categories. You see growth,comes from them knowing that that’s how the game is played. They spend most oftheir career working extremely hard because they know they are already behind. Theyfeel that in order to stay or have that competitive edge, they have to plantheir success years in advance. Women grow with the challenges that theyexperience every day. Therefore, when a female ages past her peak, she hasnothing left to do but to love it, accept it for what it is, and simply moveon.
Some may saythat acceptance is settling, I would argue that acceptance is growth, like thealley-oop setting you up for something much greater. That 25-year Chief MasterSergeant will walk away feeling accomplished when she ages past her peakbecause since the beginning, the odds were against her and no one expected herto get that far. I would even say that most military women who have served andaged past their peak, have walked away with a similar feeling. Therefore, tothe women that serve and age past their peak, keep striving for more andresilient let be.
“The odds are against you and yetyou fight on
To yourself you never say all hopehas gone
Of knowing any success as such inyour life
Your battle is with yourself and your inner strife”
- Francis Dugan
Editor’sNote: Senior MasterSergeant Lucero Stockett is an Air Force Legislative Liaison Fellow and anexperienced Senior Enlisted Leader that was recently selected to promotion toChief Master Sergeant.