Thread: First female four-star U.S. Army general nominated

CNN reports first nominated female 4-star general. Good to see.

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First female four-star U.S. Army general nominated


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- America's first female four-star general has been nominated, the Pentagon announced Monday.
Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody was nominated to be America's first four-star female general.





President Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to serve as head of the Army's supply arm.
By law women are excluded from combat jobs, the typical path to four-star rank in the military.
"This is an historic occasion for the Department of Defense and I am proud to nominate Lt. Gen. Ann Dunwoody for a fourth star," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates. "Her 33 years of service, highlighted by extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty, make her exceptionally qualified for this senior position."

Originally Posted by Merantes

CNN reports first nominated female 4-star general. Good to see.

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First female four-star U.S. Army general nominated


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- America's first female four-star general has been nominated, the Pentagon announced Monday.
Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody was nominated to be America's first four-star female general.





President Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to serve as head of the Army's supply arm.
By law women are excluded from combat jobs, the typical path to four-star rank in the military.
"This is an historic occasion for the Department of Defense and I am proud to nominate Lt. Gen. Ann Dunwoody for a fourth star," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates. "Her 33 years of service, highlighted by extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty, make her exceptionally qualified for this senior position."

Well done to Lt Gen Dunwoody. And this is my 100th post!

I don't understand "good job". If she's qualified & equal (& she will not be until it's "legal" for women to be assigned combat duty) then there's no reason for her not to be promoted.
I would say congratulations, well done, to anybody that achieves that rank.

11 years in the military and I can tell you one thing for certain, women are better managers than men. Only down side is when you get a bad female leader, its bad.

Congratulations to General Dunwoody!

Originally Posted by Akkaid

11 years in the military and I can tell you one thing for certain, women are better managers than men. Only down side is when you get a bad female leader, its bad.

Congratulations to General Dunwoody!

Women don't usually undergo quite the stress as men do in the military, & I'm sure you noticed that too.

Originally Posted by Akkaid

11 years in the military and I can tell you one thing for certain, women are better managers than men. Only down side is when you get a bad female leader, its bad.

Congratulations to General Dunwoody!

In general, I think you might be right on both accounts.

I would also say: women make up 50% of our human resources. The better we can make use of them the better for all of us. My phrasing of that last sentence may not be the best so let me explicitly say that this also applies to leadership/management positions.

Originally Posted by Migi e!

Women don't usually undergo quite the stress as men do in the military, & I'm sure you noticed that too.

Interesting point. In some cases it is probably true.

On the other hand, (although I can't immediately back this up with a link) I have frequently heard from my old-time Navy friends that studies in the 50's showed that all-women submarine crews operated much more efficiently than all-male crews. They were better able to handle the normal stress of long time close quarter isolation than the male crews and were also better able to respond to (experimentally imposed) high stress situations after long terms at sea.

Originally Posted by Merantes

Interesting point. In some cases it is probably true.

On the other hand, (although I can't immediately back this up with a link) I have frequently heard from my old-time Navy friends that studies in the 50's showed that all-women submarine crews operated much more efficiently than all-male crews. They were better able to handle the normal stress of long time close quarter isolation than the male crews and were also better able to respond to (experimentally imposed) high stress situations after long terms at sea.

Women aren't always wondering if they'll be ordered to combat, or even if it's just an ordinary overseas assignment. I've seen it happen, some will get pregnant to get out of an assignment. Thankfully most will not stoop to that, but they do have an advantage that the men do not, thus the stress level isn't as high. As for managing, that depends on what they're managing.

[quote=Akkaid;626552] Only down side is when you get a bad female leader, its bad.

What do you mean by bad?

[quote=nuit;626652]

Originally Posted by Akkaid

Only down side is when you get a bad female leader, its bad.

What do you mean by bad?

Something about how women respond when they screw up. Now keep in mind, this only applies to the bad apples, as I've already stated. Here's how it usually works out-

Bad male leader-

He screws up enough that eventually his subordinates take over his duties to prevent any more mishaps. Everyone knows that Petty Officer Smith is running the show while Chief Lardass sits in the mess drinking coffee. The chiefs evaluation will suffer, the Petty Officer will get rave reviews and everyone is happy.

Bad female leader-

She screws up enough that her subordinate attempts to take over. It works, and she knows this, but instead of sitting her fat ass in the mess she is constantly beside her subordinate. The subordinate does the work to save his people the headaches, but the female Chief constantly follows him/her, not exactly taking credit, but being a general pain inn the ass. Its not a case of the Chief learning, its that she will refuse to give up her authority, especially if the subordinate trying to take over is a man.

Ofcourse all stereotypes are imperfect, but anyone in the military can tell ya, when you first hear your boss is a female, you get a little nervous.