First Female Four-Star General

For the first time in U.S. history, a woman military officer pinned on the rank of four-star general, on November 14, according to a story by the Armed Forces Press Service. Army Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody was promoted just hours before taking the helm of the Army Materiel Command, a Fortune 100-sized organization with nearly 130,000 servicemembers at 150 locations worldwide charged with equipping, outfitting and arming the service’s soldiers.

The emotionally charged promotion ceremony was a veritable “Who’s Who” within the Defense Department, as the defense secretary, the Army secretary, the chairman and all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, two former Army chiefs of staff and other senior military officials attended.