Every year, the incoming freshman class at Annapolis takes part in “plebe summer,” a demanding six weeks of training run by upper class students.   In 1979, the first class of female students at Annapolis became seniors.  The idea of a woman in a position of power in the military was so novel that this photo of Sandee Irwin putting Don Holcomb through his paces made the front cover of the Washington Post.

Every year, the incoming freshman class at Annapolis takes part in “plebe summer,” a demanding six weeks of training run by upper class students.  

In 1979, the first class of female students at Annapolis became seniors.  The idea of a woman in a position of power in the military was so novel that this photo of Sandee Irwin putting Don Holcomb through his paces made the front cover of the Washington Post.