For the first time, two of the Deputy Chiefs of service, Navy and Air Force, one-star Commodores and Air Commodores, are women. Captain Melissa Ross was promoted to Commodore and appointed as Deputy Chief of Navy in December 2019, while in August 2019 Group Captain Carol Abraham was promoted to Air Commodore and appointed as Deputy Chief of Air Force. Another female officer, Colonel Helen Cooper, had previously held the post of Deputy Chief of Army though in an acting capacity without being promoted to the customary rank of Brigadier. In an unusual move, as of February 2020, the Deputy Chief of Army, Evan Williams, holds not just the customary rank of Brigadier but that of Major General, usually only held by the Chief of Army.