Parachutes fill the skies March 14, 2024, during an all-female jump by 173rd Airborne Brigade soldiers onto the Juliet Drop Zone near Vajont, Italy. A jump by the brigade on March 19, 2025, included men to comply with recent Pentagon and executive orders. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
VICENZA, Italy — A program that guided the Army’s female soldiers along their career path has been renamed and opened to men, as the services work to comply with new Pentagon rules and executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
The group formerly known as “Women of the Herd” is now simply called the mentorship program in Vicenza, which is home to the 173rd Airborne Brigade. A separate Ranger School mentorship program a female soldier had planned to form for women is also now on pause.
Meanwhile, the brigade’s annual parachute jump for women took place over the skies of northern Italy with the addition of some men.
The changes underscore how the Army and other services are attempting to adapt programs originally meant for subsets of service members who may face challenges.
Two U.S. Army paratroopers apply camouflage to their faces March 14, 2024, during the 173rd Airborne Brigade's all-female parachute jump near Vajont, Italy. The brigade's jump on March 19, 2025, included men to comply with recent Pentagon and executive orders. (Brian Erickson/Stars and Stripes)
“This is an important community,” Col. Joshua Gaspard, commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, said in remarks before a leadership talk in late March that was part of the mentorship program. “There are teammates here that will talk to each other and say things they wouldn’t say to others.”
The Army, like many large private institutions, has encouraged mentoring to help identify gaps and promote its values.
However, an Army Research Institute-funded study by the University of Kansas did find differences in how mentorship was perceived among the sexes. The 2022 report said that while men in the Army often used mentorship as a tool to advance, many women view it as a way to survive in a male-dominated field.
Some soldiers leave the Juliet Drop Zone near Vajont, Italy, as others gather parachutes and still others float to the ground during an all-women jump March 14, 2024. Men joined the brigade jump on March 19, 2025, so it would comply with recent Pentagon and executive orders. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
In 2021, 1st Sgt. Erica Plaisance started the female mentorship program at Vicenza. The group meets twice a month for breakfast and attends occasional talks from people outside their unit.
“We have a lot of young soldiers who don’t know the opportunities the Army has,” Plaisance said. “It’s mostly men in the 173rd, so it’s good for women to talk.”
At the most recent meeting on March 18, which included about 50 women and four men, soldiers heard from retired Col. Barb Trent.
She spoke about her 29 years in the military and said it took significant time for some men to accept her and other women.
“They were like, ‘Oh, you’re a woman, but you can actually do the same things we’re doing,’” Trent said. “It was very challenging from a female perspective because not only were we not wanted, but we didn’t have anyone to turn to,” she said.
A 173rd Airborne Brigade paratrooper heads for the ground after jumping from an 86th Airlift Wing C-130 in the province of Pordenone, Italy, on March 19, 2025. The jump was originally planned to be only for women as in previous years, but men were included to comply with Pentagon directives and executive orders. (Paolo Bovo/U.S. Army)
The parachute jump for both women and men happened the following day.
Photos, videos and social media posts celebrating last year’s all-women jump were initially removed from Army websites and social media, as the services moved to take down information that might be viewed as promoting DEI initiatives. They have since been restored after further review.
This year’s event in the skies over the province of Pordenone featured two Air Force planes and 94 jumping participants.
“We didn’t want to get rid of the opportunity to mentor young soldiers, and there are plenty of male soldiers who support women,” brigade spokeswoman Capt. Jennifer French said. “So it’s a mixed jump and sometimes it’s just fun to jump out of an airplane.”
Two U.S. Army paratroopers fold their parachute retrieval bags ahead of the 173rd Airborne Brigade's all-female parachute jump near Vajont, Italy, on March 14, 2024. Men joined the brigade jump on March 19, 2025, so it would comply with recent Pentagon and executive orders. (Brian Erickson/Stars and Stripes)
