Milestone: SHS grad Cate serving as combat medic

By Sequim Gazette Staff • July 14, 2021 1:30 am
Sequim High graduate Ashleigh Cate, pictured here with step-father Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jonathan Short, now serves in the U.S. Army as a combat medic. Submitted photo
Sequim High graduate Ashleigh Cate, pictured here with step-father Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jonathan Short, now serves in the U.S. Army as a combat medic. Submitted photo

Ashleigh Cate, a 2019 Sequim high graduate, enlisted to serve in the U.S. Army September 2020 after completing her associatate of arts degree at Olympic College.

Cate completed basic combat training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, during the height of the pandemic, excelling in marksmanship and graduating as a Private First Class. She then completed her EMT and combat medic training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

Cate elected to serve as a paratrooper, and graduated from airborne training at Fort Benning, Ga., in April 2021.

Cate was pinned with her Airborne Jump Wings in a private ceremony by her step-father, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jonathan Short — also an Airborne paratrooper — in April 2021.

She is now stationed at Fort Bragg (North Carolina) and is working as a combat medic.

Cate is the daughter of Melissa McHugh Short (stepfather Jonathan Short) and Chad Cate (stepmother Renee Cate), both Sequim High graduates, and the granddaughter of Charlie and Brandy Cate and Paul and Rochelle McHugh, all of Sequim.