Posted on 02/07/2012 9:57:38 PM PST by JerseyanExile
WASHINGTON — Air Force Lt. Gen. Janet C. Wolfenbarger would become the highest-ranking woman officer ever to serve in the Air Force if a nomination forwarded Monday by President Barack Obama is approved by the Senate.
Wolfenbarger would lead Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and become the first female four-star general in the Air Force. The command focuses on development and sustainment of weapons systems. With a yearly budget of $60 billion, it’s the largest Air Force command in terms of funding.
Wolfenbarger now serves as military deputy to the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisitions. Before her current assignment at the Pentagon, she was vice commander at Air Force Material Command, according to her official Air Force biography. She previously held other positions in the command, including director of the Intelligence and Requirements Directorate. Before that, she directed programs and offices connected with the C-17 transport plane, the B-2 bomber and the F-22 fighter.
She is a 1980 graduate of the Air Force Academy and later earned a master’s degree at National Defense University.
According to the Pentagon, Army Gen. Ann Dunwoody, commander of Army Materiel Command, became the U.S. Army’s first four-star general in 2008.
Pentagon officials praised Obama’s selection.
“The secretary strongly supports the president’s nomination, and he believes that General Wolfenbarger is an outstanding Air Force officer,” Pentagon press secretary George Little told American Forces Press Service. “The fact that she would be the first woman to wear a fourth star in the Air Force, if confirmed, is a testament to her skills, experience and dedication.”
Affective action, or a real four star? Time will tell.
This gal must be plenty smart; an MIT degree and two MS degrees. Have to ask how she got two General officer promotions in one year? She was promoted to MG (2 stars) in June, 2009, and then got her third star in December, 2009.
I didn’t know that an officer could take the Squadron Officer course and the Command and General Staff course by correspondence. She completed both in this manner.
She must have some heavy pull in higher HQs.
Maybe she challanged the exam, both of them.
That's what I look for in a woman, by golly.
(A flat head is a bonus)
Raise your hand if you believe that this woman is deserving of command over thousands of airmen, rather than just being another example of AA gone wild. Yeah, me neither.
Don’t knock them all. Affirmative action has created more than it’s share of disasters but I have worked with plenty of capable women in the military and law enforcement. I work with one now that is worth two of any other guy in the office.
Logistics at that level is a pretty cerebral field of understanding assets and capability vs mission. Good on her and I hope she always takes care of her troops. I don’t care what she looks like and it has no impact on the job we pay her to do.
Agreed.
1980 AFA grad.....she was a doolie when I was a senior there. Damn, I’m getting old.
Well, isn’t that special.
Guess that, in the entire Air Force, there were no men capable of tackling the job.
Just for comparison’s sake:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_T._Odierno#Promotion_assignments
Odierno’s troops captured Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
She arrived a month after I left to go to Craig AFB for UPT. I am old. :)
Major General June 26, 2009, Lieutenant General Dec. 3, 2009. Yes that is quite fast but if her second assignment or billet in 2009, after making Major General was to a 3 star slot then she would be on the fast track to get promoted again. The mandatory retirement age for all general officers is 62 (this can be deferred to age 64 in some cases). Under the law (10 USC, Sec 635). I say let’s use her experience at The Air Force Materiel Command HQ., while we can.
She is married to Craig Wolfenbarger. The couple resides in Dayton, Ohio.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.