For Kyra Azzato ’17, looking back on it, the vision really began on the day she arrived at Syracuse University to join the Army ROTC battalion. It was built upon the officers and teachers in charge of the program. She studied the way they supervised cadets, the concern and command they always showed during training in the field.
It led to an aspiration that seemed impossible. Azzato listened as many of her friends spoke of their plans once they left college, how they intended to “branch infantry,” the expression for going into combat arms.
While Azzato wanted the same thing, she could do little more than wish out loud. American women were barred from taking that step. In the 98-year history of Army ROTC on the Syracuse campus, no woman graduate had ever been allowed to go into combat training. Read the full story at SU News.