Dr. Kate McGraw is a clinical psychologist and senior consulting psychologist at the Defense Center of Excellence for Psychological Health & Traumatic Brain Injury. She was one of the first female intercontinental ballistic missile launch officers in the U.S. Air Force while stationed at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.
I’ve worked for the military for nearly 25 years in many different roles. Early in my career I broke into a gender-restricted field and the experience caused me to think a lot about challenges for females in the military. For the most part, while my gender made me obviously different from the males, I didn’t focus on it. My parents raised me to do my best, accomplish whatever I set my mind and heart to, and to never limit myself to a narrow female role.