Chloe Barnes, Women's History Month highlight

Story by Sgt. Hannah Clifton March 21, 2023 at 12:37PM Soldier, firefighter, competitive powerlifter, Sgt. Chloe Barnes, combat engineer with Company A. 776 Brigade Engineer Battalion, doesn’t shy away from a challenge or a chance to test her mind and body. Chloe decided to join the Indiana Army National Guard in 2019 after the National Guard had more to choose from than infantry. Knowing that she could gain free job training, she chose to become an aviation mechanic. However, throughout her time training she realized that being a soldier out in the field was what she loved best which inspired her to become a combat engineer. When asked about her perspective on Women’s History Month and what it means to be a woman in the armed forces, Chloe was quick to answer. “It goes to show how far we’ve come in and out of uniform,” said Chloe. “It hasn’t been a hundred years that we were officially allowed in the Army and just in 2015 we were allowed finally in combat roles. Without that I wouldn’t be able to [be a combat engineer]. It just goes to show in a few short years how far we’ve come and how far we can continue going as women.”