First Woman Attains Four-Stars

On Nov. 14, Army Gen. Ann Dunwoody became the first woman in the US military to reach four-star general. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey Jr. were among those attending a standing-room only ceremony in the Pentagon auditorium. Dunwoody, who now has taken charge of Army Materiel Command, previously served as deputy commanding general and chief of staff of the 130,000-strong organization located at Ft. Belvoir, Va. Dunwoody’s father and brother graduated from West Point as had her grandfather and his father before him, but at the time she entered the Army in the mid-1970s, the US Military Academy did not take women. “I never grew up in an environment where I even heard of the words ‘glass ceiling,” she said, adding, “You could always be anything you wanted to be if you worked hard.” Dunwoody declared, too, “I may be the first woman to achieve this honor; I know with certainty that I won’t be the last.” (AFPS report by Fred Baker III)