When Diana Moyers-Siebels joined the Army in 1978 and went to Fort McClellan, Alabama, for basic training, her unit was all female. Moyer-Siebels joined the Women's Army Corps, a separate branch of the Army that was created exclusively for women in 1942, reports the Wisconsin State Journal.
Two days before graduating basic training, on Nov. 1, 1978, the Women's Army Corps program was eliminated "so that people would stop saying that they were discriminating against women in the military by keeping them in a separate corps," Moyers-Siebels said.
Following nearly 40 years of service, Moyers-Siebels is retiring from the Army Reserve as one of just four remaining women who joined the military through the Women's Army Corps.
Moyers-Siebels, who retires at the end of the month, was honored in a formal retirement ceremony Saturday evening in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mackenzie Wolf is an editorial intern for Military Times.
