Feeling Less than Feminine in the Marines

As a woman in the Marines, I often don’t feel as feminine as when I had a civilian job in which I wore dresses and left my hair down.

One day I was feeling especially depressed about this and couldn’t wait to get home to change. When I arrived, I found that my friend and her 18-month-old daughter had been waiting for me.

My friend is married to a Marine, and my worries about appearing less than feminine only increased when her little girl glanced up at me and yelled happily, “Daddy’s home!”