Maybe I'm veering outside my lane here, but it always strikes me in these conversations that everyone seems to want the military to be what works for them. If they don't like it, it's wrong. If it doesn't work for them, it is broken.
This young lady seems to have served honorably and gotten something out of it. She decided it wasn't for her, at least not anymore. Great. Why does that have to mean it is flawed? It wasn't right for her (anymore) and maybe she wasn't right for it, either. It doesn't work for her personal life, she wants a more liberal and diverse environment because she heavily values that. Okay. I hope she finds that in her next endeavor. That doesn't mean the military is doing it wrong or badly, and yet that's always the conclusion--"I was unhappy, so the system should be different," "I didn't promote, so the process is flawed," "It didn't fit within the lifestyle I want, so it should change". No one seems to be able to say, "it wasn't right for me, nor I for it", and to own that as being about them personally, shrug it off, and move on. Instead, they have to blame a broken system, as though somehow they are entitled to the Navy they want and that works for them. Sure, there are unhappy people in the Navy, but I've met a hell of a lot of happy ones, too. So clearly, the system as a whole works for a lot of people. Change it and guess what? The spread of whom it works for and whom it doesn't work for changes and different people are unhappy in different ways, but is that progress?
I'm not saying that even those who are happy don't have gripes. Or that the military is perfect. But it seems these conversations are always pushed by people who use their own dissatisfaction as proof of some inherent brokenness of the system, rather than being able to own the fact that maybe it is personal and they just weren't a good fit. (And not in a judgmental way--just different strokes for different folks.)
My bestie is a therapist and professor, working for a couple universities. It sounds miserable to me. That doesn't mean her employers are messed up or they are doing it wrong. It just means it isn't for me. Another friend is a defense attorney. I'd rather remove my eyes with a rusty spoon. I could name a hundred jobs I don't want to do and a hundred companies I don't want to work for. It doesn't mean they are flawed and broken and need to change. It means I need to find something different and let someone for whom it does work carry on.