"I Want to be in the Fight": An MP Officer Reflects on Leadership, Gender Issues in the Military, and Overcoming Adversity

Mary Elizabeth McGovney
Title

DESCRIPTION

Having overcome Hodgkin's lymphoma as a cadet, Mary Elizabeth "Guvvi" McGovney branched Military Police upon graduation from USMA in 2004. She participated in the 82nd Airborne's emergency response and relief efforts in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and later deployed to Afghanistan as a platoon leader (2005-6), to Iraq as a staff officer (2007-8), and again to Iraq as a company commander (2011). In this interview, she discusses her time at West Point, her operational experiences, and the complicated sociological dynamics that shape gender roles and relations in the U.S. armed forces.

VIDEO DETAILS

conflicts Afghanistan War Iraq War
topics Leadership Women in Service
interviewer Mark Frankel
date 31 March 2015

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS

name Mary Elizabeth McGovney
institution USMA
graduation year 2004
service Army
unit 272nd MP Company, 519th MP Battalion
specialty Military Police
service dates 2004
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