The ascension paths Rear Admiral Yvette M. Davids ’89, USN, and Rear Admiral Sara A. Joyner ’89, USN, followed to their wartime leadership positions were blocked when they graduated from the Naval Academy.
Women weren’t allowed in combat when Joyner and Davids were commissioned. Davids’ journey would see her needing special permission to be in a combat zone aboard BUNKER HILL in 1990 to commanding the vessel 20 years later. Joyner was the first female commanding officer of a fighter squadron.
It was groundbreakers like Joyner and Davids who paved the way for future generations to serve their country in combat. They followed in the trailblazing footsteps of alumni Lieutenant Commander Wesley A. Brown ’49, USN (Ret.), the Academy’s first Black graduate and the first class of female plebes who entered the Academy in 1976. Throughout its 175-year history, the Academy has commissioned leaders who forge new paths, break ground and smash through glass ceilings.
Feature originally appeared in the U.S. Naval Academy alumni magazine, Shipmate.