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Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody
Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody
Dunwoody Nominated to Be First Female Four-Star General
Ann E. Dunwoody is the first woman to be nominated to receive four stars by the U.S. Army, and has been promoted to general of Army Materiel Command.
30-Second Summary
According to ABC News, “for the first time in American history, a woman has been chosen for promotion to four-star general.”
President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to lead the Army Materiel Command, which equips, outfits and arms soldiers. “If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman to attain the rank of a full general,” reported ABC.
Women have not earned four-star rankings previously because they’ve been excluded from combat roles, which typically lead to high-ranking military positions. The exclusion stands, but Dunwoody’s nomination signals that “the Army has chosen to cast aside its customary limitations on promotion,” said ABC News.
Dunwoody’s family has a military tradition, and she has held top positions for the Army and Pentagon, including division parachute officer of the 82nd Airborne Division in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, and commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee.
Despite troubling issues, such as more women being discharged than men for violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy, a recent study suggested that women in the military have higher job satisfaction than white males.
For her part, Dunwoody heaped praise on the U.S. military. “This nomination only reaffirms what I have known to be true about the military throughout my career ... that the doors continue to open for men and women in uniform.”
President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to lead the Army Materiel Command, which equips, outfits and arms soldiers. “If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman to attain the rank of a full general,” reported ABC.
Women have not earned four-star rankings previously because they’ve been excluded from combat roles, which typically lead to high-ranking military positions. The exclusion stands, but Dunwoody’s nomination signals that “the Army has chosen to cast aside its customary limitations on promotion,” said ABC News.
Dunwoody’s family has a military tradition, and she has held top positions for the Army and Pentagon, including division parachute officer of the 82nd Airborne Division in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, and commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee.
Despite troubling issues, such as more women being discharged than men for violating the “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy, a recent study suggested that women in the military have higher job satisfaction than white males.
For her part, Dunwoody heaped praise on the U.S. military. “This nomination only reaffirms what I have known to be true about the military throughout my career ... that the doors continue to open for men and women in uniform.”
Headline Links: Dunwoody breaks a barrier
The Pentagon announced that President Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to be the first female four-star general, and to lead the Army Materiel Command, which equips, outfits and arms soldiers. Army law limits the number of active-duty four-star generals to only 11. Dunwoody is already “one of only two female three-stars in the Army,” according to ABC News.
Source: ABC News
The Kansas City Star reports that Dunwoody’s nomination “comes nearly 11 years after the first female three-star general was appointed head of Army intelligence and 38 years after the first two women were named as Army one-stars.” Dunwoody’s leading positions for the Army and the Pentagon contributed to her selection.
Source: Kansas City Star
Background: Dunwoody’s past achievements
In 2004, Dunwoody became commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee. Prior to assuming the position, Dunwoody led the U.S. Army’s Military Traffic Management Command. She also served as a division parachute officer of the 82nd Airborne Division in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, and was deployed overseas in the early 1990s.
Source: Seafarer’s International Union
According to the U.S. Army Web site, Dunwoody’s “family has a long tradition of military service, including her great grandfather, grandfather, father, brother, sister, niece and husband. Secretary of the Army, Pete Geren, said Dunwoody’s “leadership, character and career have been prepared her to lead the Army Materiel Command."
Source: The United States Army
Related Topics: Women in the military; other female firsts
According to Newsweek, minorities and women in the military “consistently rate their jobs as more satisfying than white males do.” A study conducted by the American Sociological Review suggested that because of the armed forces’ strictly rank-based social hierarchies, racial and gender biases do not apply.
Source: Newsweek
According to the New York Times, Pentagon statistics show that “the Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy” regarding gays in the military. The statistics came from a Freedom of Information Act request by policy advocacy organization the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Source: New York Times
CNN reported in January 2007 that Rep. Nancy Pelosi had become the first female speaker of the House of Representatives. She was elected speaker by a vote of 233 to 202, and praised women’s efforts to break barriers. “Never losing faith, we worked to redeem the promise of America,” she said.
Source: CNN
In 1983, Sally K. Ride became the first American woman in space as a mission specialist on the Challenger, twenty-two years after the first U.S. space mission. In 1984, Ride went on another mission to space, and in 1986, she helped investigate the Challenger explosion. Ride earned a Ph.D. in astrophysics before joining NASA.
Source: National Women’s Hall of Fame
Reference: Dunwoody’s biography
Dunwoody’s educational background, military positions, awards and decorations are described by LOGTECH.
Source: The Center of Excellence in Logistics & Technology
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