Michelle Williams

And in Mormon culture, if not doctrine, there's this understanding that all of world history, all the affairs of human enterprise were divinely set up the way they were to ultimately accumulate in a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith being in Palmyra, New York, to receive these golden plates that were then translated into the Book of Mormon. And so in this conceptualization of the cosmos,

And in Mormon culture, if not doctrine, there's this understanding that all of world history, all the affairs of human enterprise were divinely set up the way they were to ultimately accumulate in a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith being in Palmyra, New York, to receive these golden plates that were then translated into the Book of Mormon. And so in this conceptualization of the cosmos,

And in Mormon culture, if not doctrine, there's this understanding that all of world history, all the affairs of human enterprise were divinely set up the way they were to ultimately accumulate in a 14-year-old boy named Joseph Smith being in Palmyra, New York, to receive these golden plates that were then translated into the Book of Mormon. And so in this conceptualization of the cosmos,

I understood the United States as the promised land and that we spoke of it as the promised land. And it's sometimes referred to as the cradle of restoration. Now, that narrative has started to change within the Mormon church as that church has become much more global in nature. But it was certainly something I grew up with.

I understood the United States as the promised land and that we spoke of it as the promised land. And it's sometimes referred to as the cradle of restoration. Now, that narrative has started to change within the Mormon church as that church has become much more global in nature. But it was certainly something I grew up with.

I understood the United States as the promised land and that we spoke of it as the promised land. And it's sometimes referred to as the cradle of restoration. Now, that narrative has started to change within the Mormon church as that church has become much more global in nature. But it was certainly something I grew up with.

So from that lens, joining the military was an act of safeguarding the promised land. Very grandiose concept. And if I was going to do it, of course, I was going to go for the most stringent, most demanding, most, in my opinion, honorable branch.

So from that lens, joining the military was an act of safeguarding the promised land. Very grandiose concept. And if I was going to do it, of course, I was going to go for the most stringent, most demanding, most, in my opinion, honorable branch.

So from that lens, joining the military was an act of safeguarding the promised land. Very grandiose concept. And if I was going to do it, of course, I was going to go for the most stringent, most demanding, most, in my opinion, honorable branch.

Yes. And that was such a powerful aftershock of an all-male clergy and the whole conversation of men having an inherent discernment that as a woman, it was my job to support and facilitate and follow, but not to question. And that definitely set me up to be very susceptible to some of the baser sexism that I encountered in the Marine Corps.

Yes. And that was such a powerful aftershock of an all-male clergy and the whole conversation of men having an inherent discernment that as a woman, it was my job to support and facilitate and follow, but not to question. And that definitely set me up to be very susceptible to some of the baser sexism that I encountered in the Marine Corps.

Yes. And that was such a powerful aftershock of an all-male clergy and the whole conversation of men having an inherent discernment that as a woman, it was my job to support and facilitate and follow, but not to question. And that definitely set me up to be very susceptible to some of the baser sexism that I encountered in the Marine Corps.

I knew nothing. I somehow had picked up just in the social ether that the Marine Corps was like the hardest core or the most demanding. In line with being raised in a very conservative household, I never heard any criticism of the military. I was blithely unaware that there was any, actually.

I knew nothing. I somehow had picked up just in the social ether that the Marine Corps was like the hardest core or the most demanding. In line with being raised in a very conservative household, I never heard any criticism of the military. I was blithely unaware that there was any, actually.

I knew nothing. I somehow had picked up just in the social ether that the Marine Corps was like the hardest core or the most demanding. In line with being raised in a very conservative household, I never heard any criticism of the military. I was blithely unaware that there was any, actually.

I was unaware that we'd been anything other than wildly successful in all of our affairs abroad and had only ever heard hero worship.

I was unaware that we'd been anything other than wildly successful in all of our affairs abroad and had only ever heard hero worship.

I was unaware that we'd been anything other than wildly successful in all of our affairs abroad and had only ever heard hero worship.

I knew that some of the stories, the narratives that I'd been told of what it meant to be a girl and what it meant to be a woman did not feel right in my body. I really struggled with some components of Mormon culture that I experienced as a reprimand to be smaller, to be quieter, to be a follower and not a leader. I knew that I didn't want that, but I still had these

I knew that some of the stories, the narratives that I'd been told of what it meant to be a girl and what it meant to be a woman did not feel right in my body. I really struggled with some components of Mormon culture that I experienced as a reprimand to be smaller, to be quieter, to be a follower and not a leader. I knew that I didn't want that, but I still had these