With deepest gratitude and admiration, this book is dedicated to
two remarkable women:
Brad’s sister, Navy Captain Shannon Jill Johnson
David’s daughter, Julia Caroline Smith

And to a generation of fiercely courageous rising Athenas:
Every woman who has graduated from one of America’s service academies
since the first class of resolute women shattered barriers
and led the way for their sisters at Annapolis, West Point, and
Colorado Springs in the fall of 1976.