Publisher Description

Changing the Rules of Engagement documents the lives of women who have shattered the glass ceiling and performed extraordinary feats while serving their country. By telling their stories about their remarkable careers in traditionally male-dominated environments, Martha LaGuardia-Kotite demonstrates how tenacious and courageous women can achieve the unimaginable.Among the pioneering women profiled are Vice Adm. Vivien Crea, who as vice commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard held the highest-ranking position of any woman in the history of the U.S. military; Capt. Tammy Duckworth, USA (Ret.), a Purple Heart recipient and triple amputee who was shot down in Iraq while piloting a Black Hawk helicopter; and Heather Wilson, an Air Force Academy graduate, Rhodes scholar, and the country's only female veteran in Congress. Included are the inspirational stories of women Marines, one of the three female Shuttle commanders in the history of the NASA program, and the first female members of the military service academies'gender-integrated classes, who recall the highs and lows of their trailblazing experiences.These are only a few of the remarkable women who tell their own inspiring stories in Changing the Rules of Engagement. Representative of a widely diverse group of enlisted women and officers from different races and cultures, they have succeeded since the mid-1970s at combating prejudices and aiding change in the military with intelligence, passion, and honor while serving on the front lines.

Author Biography

Martha LaGuardia-Kotite's bold leadership style empowered her to become one of the first women officers to serve aboard two Coast Guard cutters with all-male crews. Rising to the senior rank of captain in the U.S. Coast Guard, she served with distinction for twenty-nine years at sea and ashore. A TEDx and keynote speaker, empowerment enthusiast, and journalist with an MA from Harvard University, LaGuardia-Kotite is the author of the award-winning So Others May Live: Coast Guard Rescue Swimmers Saving Lives, Defying Death and has written for numerous publications and newspapers, including the Boston Globe. Visit her website

Review

"You'll feel the tension facing the first female in the U.S. military to become a demonstration acrobatics Thunderbird pilot. You'll feel the raw emotion of the first Navy nurse corps officer to be appointed as commanding officer of a medical surgical unit as she treated the severely wounded in Iraq. You'll admire one of the first women to attend the naval academy and then smile at discovering that her family became the first in America to send every member to the naval academy. After reading Changing the Rules of Engagement, you'll feel renewed pride and patriotism in the U.S. military and the sacrifices of these women."—Jane Hampton Cook, author of Resilience on Parade: Short Stories of Suffragists and Women's Battle for the Vote
 
"Martha LaGuardia-Kotite deserves our thanks for sharing the incredible stories of those who paved the way for all of us serving today. I am struck by the courage and humanity of the women she features and by the fact that they are my contemporaries. In a single generation, we've witnessed great transformation in our armed forces!"—Capt. Melissa Bert, USCG
"Most of us from that pioneer generation of women in defense have been too busy to stop and take notice of how far we've come in the last thirty years. With Changing the Rules of Engagement, Martha LaGuardia-Kotite has given us the chance to do so, and the journey is indeed wondrous to behold."—Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, Fox News national security analyst and former national security official in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations
"Changing the Rules of Engagement is an anthology full of journeys that must be shared. I'm so glad that Cmdr. Martha LaGuardia-Kotite has made it her mission to delve into the personal stories of seventeen trailblazers and share them with all of us."—From the foreword by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), chairwoman, Democratic National Committee
"Changing the Rules of Engagement helps strengthen my belief that we should honor our service members and veterans every day of the year. LaGuardia-Kotite and the women she interviewed will surely serve to inspire future generations of young women to follow in their footsteps and achieve excellence in our nation's armed forces."—From the foreword by Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), chairman, House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Review Quote

Most of us from that pioneer generation of women in defense have been too busy to stop and take notice of how far we've come in the last thirty years. With Changing the Rules of Engagement , Martha LaGuardia-Kotite has given us the chance to do so, and the journey is indeed wondrous to behold. -Kathleen Troia KT McFarland, Fox News national security analyst and former national security official in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations

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