Western Courier

Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Adam Sacasa The ROTC Color Guard marches Saturday, where Colleen McGuire spoke at the annual Military Ball.

Colleen McGuire is effortlessly calm and professional. She speaks confidently and compassionately with an approachable and wise nature usually reserved for priests. She is highly patient, genuinely inquisitive and concerned with those around her.

She wears a soft, white blouse and off-white pants, and is exceptionally passionate and animated when describing her many travels in Germany, Alaska, Somalia and Iraq.

Her motto is simple, "You have to be a professional in your profession … and that doesn't mean you have to fit any particular stereotype."

McGuire, however, is a highly decorated colonel with 28 years of active service and direct combat experience, and the honored guest speaker at the 2008 Military Ball.

Among her awards and decorations are the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Army Staff Identification Badge and the Senior Parachutist's Badge.

Despite women being legally barred from certain military actions and programs, Col. McGuire insists she never felt limited in her options as a woman in the military.

"In my 28 years I have already seen a great deal of advancement (in opportunities) for women," she said. She also mentioned that there are now several female three-star generals.

After graduating from the University of Montana with a degree in broadcast journalism, she traveled to West Germany and enlisted in the Police Corps in 1985.

She said this was a time in her life when she felt extremely competitive and compelled to assert her ambitions. She joined the Police Corps because "for a woman at the time, it was the closest you could get to infantry."

"We were still reeling from the after-effects of Vietnam," McGuire said, referencing her activity in West Germany. "We were still very Cold War-centric in our training and personnel."

She said most of her activity involved detecting smellums, soviet intelligence vehicles in West Germany affectionately nicknamed after SMLMs (Soviet Military Liaison Missions).

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