FORT HOOD, Texas (Fox 44) — First Lieutenant Janel Tracy first heard about the Sullivan cup during her officer training course. But after competing this past May, she realized it was another step for female tankers.

“I was like, hey, you know, I’m just the first,” she told Fox 44 News. “There’s more to come. So hopefully they, you know, show interest in this.”

The competition takes place every two years and is open for tank companies all over the United States.

Tracy and her team were nominated from 2-12 Cav to compete and ended up placing second overall.

“The soldiers were really excited, especially the guys from my platoon,” Tracy said. “So there’s a lot of hype about it. And we were a little bummed that we couldn’t take first for everybody, but they were just proud that we made a good showing for, you know, First Cav, our company, our platoon.”

Tracy explained that during the competition, there are different events the crews must take part in, some as a team and others as individuals.

She learned a lot from the experience and hopes to implement it in her unit at Fort Hood.

“Learned a lot from the gunnery and like talking to the master gunners that are, you know, subject matter experts for tanks,” she said. “But it was a once in a lifetime experience for sure. And I mean, we’ll have these relationships for the rest of our lives.”

Tracy finished by saying this was a huge step for her and for other female tankers, as there were others who competed in different events during the cup and she looks forward to what future competitions will look like.

“We look at these boundaries and we get afraid of them. And really, it just takes one to knock it down. And I know like now there should be more and the women that I know that have branched armor are more than capable.”