West Point Names Diana Holland as First Woman Commandant of Cadets

A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be the first female commandant of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, one of West Point's top positions.

The academy announced Tuesday that Brig. Gen. Diana M. Holland will be the 76th commandant of the Corps of Cadets. Under West Point's superintendent, she'll oversee discipline and training for the academy's approximately 4,200 cadets.

Holland will replace Maj. Gen. John C. Thomson III, who has been named commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

Holland, a 1990 West Point graduate, currently serves as a deputy commanding general with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum. She'll start her new job on Jan. 5.

Holland, who graduated from the West Point in 1990, has served in Germany as well as in deployments to Iraq in 2004 and Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011. The announcement comes just two weeks after the Pentagon opened all military jobs to women. 

The first female cadets graduated from the academy in 1980.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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