Met today with two associate sub secretaries for the Ministry of Defense. This is the equivalent of Deputy Secretariess for the Secretary of Defense in the US. The Sub Secretary is responsible for the Police, army, navy and all military branches. They have only one police force that is centralized through the Federal government.
The new leader for the Ministry of Defense is a women, in her early 30's and the two associate sub secretaries we met with today were in their 20's. It was really incredible to meet these young women in Executive level positions. They spoke about the difficulty of being taken seriously in a male dominated environment and the challenges for women in all areas of defense. They did say that Bachelet helped them think differently about their career path and focus on being recognized for their skills and not looks.
Since Bachelet women have been highly successful in gaining elected positions. Most women who run for office win.
Finally we took a tour of the office and above the desk of the sub secretary was the original note sent by the Miners on September 17th indicating that they were safe and in the shelter. It gave me chills to see and read it knowing the government is work to rescue them. They say having it up is an inspiration to work harder. The note in red ink was so profound and so simple. (took a photo to share but not working right now)
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