The story of Marine Corps Veteran Esther Castañeda – VA News (.gov)

The story of Marine Corps Veteran Esther Castañeda  VA News (.gov)

When Esther Castañeda arrived at Camp Pendleton in 1979, she wasn’t trying to make history. She just wanted to go to the rifle range. When Esther Castañeda arrived at Camp Pendleton in 1979, she wasn’t trying to make history. The SoCal native wanted the same opportunity to train as the other Marines around her. There was just one problem: Women weren’t being sent to the rifle range. Castañeda was denied the opportunity because she was a woman. That changed when a colonel gave her the chance she had been asking for, and she became the first woman to go to the rifle range at Camp Pendleton. When the opportunity finally came, she made it count: She earned her Rifle Expert Badge.

Decades later, she still has the photographs from the range—a reminder of a moment when persistence finally met opportunity. That experience became part of a much larger story, a lifetime of stepping into spaces where women weren’t traditionally expected to be. Castañeda served three years on active duty and another three in the reserve, working in supply and as a forklift operator. Leaving the military didn’t change her appetite for challenge. She drove a truck for FedEx. She completed the LAPD Reserve Academy. She rides a Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200. And these days, you may find her in Long Beach,