West Point announces first female commandant of cadets

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- A veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be the first female commandant of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, one of West Point's top positions.

The academy announced Tuesday that Brig. Gen. Diana M. Holland will be the 76th commandant of the Corps of Cadets. Under West Point's superintendent, she'll oversee discipline and training for the academy's approximately 4,200 cadets.

Holland will replace Maj. Gen. John C. Thomson III, who has been named commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas.

Holland, a 1990 West Point graduate, currently serves as a deputy commanding general with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in northern New York. She'll start her new job on Jan. 5.

The first female cadets graduated from the academy in 1980.