Generally Speaking : A Memoir by the First Woman Promoted to Three-Star General in the United States Army

Claudia J. Kennedy retired as the Army's first female three-star general and the highest-ranking woman ever in that branch, overseeing 45,000 soldiers worldwide. During her 32-year career she witnessed the dramatic advances made by military women, and she was a long-time champion for fairness and equality in the Army. As she recounts her experiences in a male-dominated profession, beginning as a young Women's Army Corps officer in 1969, moving through her Pentagon service as a three-star general, and ending with her retirement in 2000, General Kennedy charts the struggles and triumphs in her inspiring life and career. "When Claudia J. Kennedy retired from the United States Army in June 2000, she had made history by becoming the Army's first woman three-star general. The highest-ranking female officer of her time, she was Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, overseeing policy and resources affecting 45,000 soldiers worldwide. Her career had spanned thirty-two years, a time of monumental transformation for the Army. And even though her ideals of devotion to duty, honor, and courage were tested, Lieutenant General Kennedy and the institution she served came through with flying colors.". "In Generally Speaking, Lieutenant General Kennedy remembers her years as a young WAC turning less than golden administrative assignments into opportunities. She tells us how, just after the practice prohibiting women officers from commanding men was changed, she was placed in charge of a chaotic, drug-infested company in which an angry soldier threatened her life - and shows us how she restored discipline and respect. And she brings to life the challenges she faced in South Korea when tensions were mounting along the DMZ and violence began to erupt." "As Lieutenant General Kennedy traces her rise to the rank of three-star general, Generally Speaking offers an insider's view of how one of our most revered and misunderstood institutions operates, from the ways the Army corrects its mistakes and gets stronger to the details of an officer's daily life."--BOOK JACKET.