Women in the National Guard

Women Pioneers of the Oklahoma National Guard

First Woman in the Oklahoma National Guard

Ladonna Newton
Ladonna Newton was the first woman to join the Oklahoma National Guard when she joined the Oklahoma Air National Guard on June 4, 1970. At the time of enlistment, Newton was a student at the St. Anthony Hospital School of Nursing and had served two years in the Navy's hospital corps aboard ships. 

Photo of Ladonna Newton enlisting provided by Oklahoma Historical Society.

First Women in the Oklahoma Army National Guard

Linda Newman and Peggy Zumwalt

Linda Newman and Peggy Zumwalt were the first two women to join the Oklahoma Army National Guard. The two joined within weeks of each other in 1973. Newman, a former Marine, took the oath of enlistment first in November 1973. Zumwalt took the oath in December 1973 and would go on to serve in the OKNG for 21 years including a deployment to Southwest Asia during the Persian Gulf War. She retired from the Oklahoma as a Sergeant First Class in 1994.

Photo of Linda Newman (left) and Peggy Zumwalt (right) provided by Oklahoma Historical Society.

First Female General Officer

Maj. Gen. LaRita Aragon

Maj. Gen. LaRita Aragon was the first female general officer in the Oklahoma National Guard. Aragon, an Air National Guard officer, became the first female general officer in March 2003 - 16 years before the next woman would become a general officer in the Oklahoma National Guard.

Aragon served as the commander and assistant adjutant general for the OKANG from from September 2003 to September 2005. Following that assignment, she served as the the Air National Guard assistant to the commander of the Air Education and Training Command where she was promoted to major general in November 2005. 

Aragon retired from uniformed service in 2006, but did not retire from serving her state and nation. In 2011, Aragon was sworn in as the first female Oklahoma Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

First Female Army National Guard General Officer

Brig. Gen. Cynthia K. Tinkham

Brig. Gen. Cynthia K. Tinkham made history when she became the Oklahoma Army National Guard's first female general officer on Jan. 23, 2019. 

Tinkham joined the OKARNG in 1989 and has been the first woman to hold sereval leadership positions including first woman to hold a major command in the OKARNG when she took command of the 189th Regiment (Regional Training Institute) in Oklahoma City as a colonel in 2014. 

First Female Chief Warrant Officer 5

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Rosemary Masters

Chief Warrant Officer 5 Rosemary Masters was the first woman to serve as a Chief Warrant Officer 5, the highest warrant officer rank, in the Oklahoma Army National Guard. Masters began her 32 year military career in 1988 when she enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. She joined the OKARNG's 45th Infantry Brigade in 1995. Masters was promoted to Chief Warrant Officer 5 in August 2018. Throughout her career, she held many leadership and staff positions. Masters retired in 2019 while serving as the OKARNG's Deputy G1. 

First Female Command Sergeant Major

Command Sgt. Maj. Shelly Haynes

Command Sgt. Maj. Shelly Haynes was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of Command Sergeant Major in the Oklahoma Army National Guard. Haynes' military career began in 1993 with the U.S. Army. Haynes joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 1999. She achieved the rank of Command Sergeant Major in July 2017 and served as the Command Sergeant Major for the Oklahoma Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion. Haynes retired in December 2020.

 First Female Combat Arms Officer

1st Lt. Kayla Christopher

1st. Lt. Kayla Christopher became the Oklahoma National Guard's first female combat arms officer in 2016 almost immediately following the Department of Defense lifting its ban on women serving in combat arms roles in December 2015. Christopher had previously served as an administrative officer with the 45th Field Artillery Brigade before becoming a field artillery officer in the 1st Battalion, 160th Field Artillery Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

A brief history of women in the U.S. National Guard

Norma Parsons. Diane Dowd. Leigh Ann Hester. They are just some of the women who have made an indelible mark on National Guard history and paved the way for future generations.

As history can attest, Guard women have been blazing a path for more than 60 years.

The First Air and Army Guard officers
After World War II, the Army kept the Women's Army Corps and held a limited number of active and reserve female officer nurse positions. Some Air National Guard commanders received authorization in the early 1950s to use female officer augmentees from the Air Force Reserve to work and train in medical units. However, these women would return to their Reserve status once units mobilized, compromising the Guard units' readiness.

In an effort to maintain a high level of readiness during the Cold War, Congress pushed forward legislation allowing women to join the National Guard, yet only as officers in medical fields. President Eisenhower signed the bill into law on July 30, 1956.

Two days later, Capt. Norma Parsons became the first woman to join the Air Guard followed by the first woman to join the Army Guard in January 1957, 1st Lt. Sylvia Marie St. Charles Law.

Parsons, who had served on active duty with the Army Nurse Corps during World War II, was sworn in as a nurse with the New York Air National Guard's 106th Tactical Hospital. After being promoted to major in 1958, Parsons started a program of specialized nurse training that was adopted, in part, by other Air Force medical evacuation units. Parsons retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1968.

Law, after being extended temporary federal recognition, joined the Alabama National Guard's 109th Evacuation Hospital. After completing the Army's six-week orientation course, Law returned to her unit and received federal recognition.

First pilot
Starting in 1976, women could attend flight training. Two years later, 2nd Lt. Marilyn Koon, a former North Dakota Guard member, became the Air National Guard's first female pilot with the Arizona National Guard's 161st Air Refueling Group. Koon also led the first Air Guard all-female crew to fly a tanker on a refueling mission in 1984.

First aviator and pilot
In 1973, the Army opened flight training to Army National Guard women. Consequently, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Diane Dowd of the Connecticut National Guard's 143rd Aviation Co., became the National Guard's first female aviator.

Starting in 1976, women could attend flight training. Two years later, 2nd Lt. Marilyn Koon, a former North Dakota Guard member, became the Air National Guard's first female pilot with the Arizona National Guard's 161st Air Refueling Group. Koon also led the first Air Guard all-female crew to fly a tanker on a refueling mission in 1984.

First adjutant general
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Martha Rainville served on active duty from 1978 to 1984 before transferring to the New York Air Guard. After joining the Vermont Guard in 1988, Rainville became the state's adjutant general in March 1997 — the first woman in the National Guard's history to hold the position. Rainville's accomplishments as adjutant general range from oversight of the immediate mobilization of the 158th Fighter Wing on Sept. 11, 2001 to helping Vermont's state partner Republic of Macedonia in expanding their agribusiness and tourism industries by facilitating business relationships. Rainville retired in April 2006.

Enlisted women
Although women were allowed to join the National Guard as officers in 1956, women were not able to join the ranks as enlisted members until 1968. Even after integrating women into the military, the roles women filled were classified as combat support. Despite the non-combat role classification, women would find themselves in combat situations, like Pfc. Charla Shull and Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester.

Shull, of the Missouri National Guard's 1138th Military Police Company, became the first Guardswoman to come under enemy fire in December 1989 while on a routine training mission in Panama. Shull later served with the 1138th in Operation Desert Storm.

Hester, a military police officer assigned to the Kentucky National Guard's 617th Military Police Company, is the first woman to receive the Silver Star since World War II and the first to be cited for valor in close quarters combat for her actions in March 2005.

The impact of these Guard firsts contributed to the changes made to the National Guard and the Department of Defense.

Learn more about the history of women serving in the U.S. Army at https://www.army.mil/women/history.

Learn more about the history of women serving in the U.S. Air Force at https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Collections/Research/Womens-History.