Two years later, Army Spc. Monica Lin Brown, a medic, received the same vaunted honor for dashing through gunfire to help save the lives of her fellow soldiers in Afghanistan after insurgents blew up their vehicle. She treated her fellow soldiers while taking mortar rounds.

Just this last week Capt. Lisa Becker became the first “female Aviation Foreign Internal Defense/Special Operations Forces aviator to serve with the Special Mission Wing in Afghanistan.” And Lt. Col. Christine Mau became the first woman to pilot an F-35 Lightning II.

So the courage is there. The valor is there. But where are we? Both military sexual assault and PTSD are incredibly important stories we must remedy and pay heed. Yet we have to see these women as courageous service members, too, and know them equally well for what they have given America and the courage they have shown on the battlefield. They have served with true honor and distinction. They have given their lives and sacrificed their futures for this country as part of answering the call to serve in their nation’s wars. They are remembered at Arlington Cemetery and on special operations memorial walls to the fallen.