Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody First Woman 4-Star General in US
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The United States Army today made Ann E. Dunwoody, a Lieutenant General, the first woman to reach the rank of four-star general in the history of the United States military. She is said to have thus broken the “brass ceiling”, which has prevented women reaching the highest ranks, in part owing to their being legally barred from serving in “front-line” combat.
The US Army press release announcing the promotion says Dunwoody “will assume command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command from Gen. Benjamin S. Griffin in a 2 p.m. ceremony at the AMC headquarters parade field.” Also according to the Army press release:
The U.S. Army Materiel Command is the Army’s premier provider of materiel readiness – technology, acquisition support, materiel development, logistics, power projection and sustainment – to the total force, across the spectrum of joint military operations. If a Soldier shoots it, drives it, flies it, wears it or eats it, AMC provides it.
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Dunwoody has reportedly expressed reticence over the hype surronding her historic promotion. She has said she “grew up in a family that didn’t know what glass ceilings were,” adding that her nomination confirms her experience that the military is an institution where doors keep opening to men and women, based on their qualifications. Dunwoody’s promotion to four-star general is the latest historic advance in a year of firsts, with Barack Obama elected the first African American president and Sarah Palin the first female member of a Republican presidential ticket.
The Associated Press reports that:
There are 21 female general officers in the Army — all but four at the one-star rank of brigadier. It was not until 1970 that the Army had its first one-star: Anna Mae Hays, chief of the Army Nurse Corps.
Women now make up about 14 percent of the active-duty Army and are allowed to serve in a wide variety of assignments. They are still excluded from units designed primarily to engage in direct combat, such as infantry and tank units, but their opportunities have expanded over the past two decades.
There have been numerous references to the “outdated” notion of women being barred from combat, as over 100 women have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nuance in the law and in the current state of major combat, where generally there are no true “front lines”, mean women are increasingly in high-risk combat situations, though general rules of deployment still favor keeping them from harm’s way.
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