Friday, February 10, 2012

A Colonel for Congress?

You bet 'cha.
Martha E. McSally is a pioneer. She was the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, and first to command a fighter squadron in combat in United States history. In 2001-2002, Martha McSally earned national recognition for successfully overturning a military policy requiring all U.S. servicewomen to wear a Muslim Abaya and headscarf when off base in Saudi Arabia.

Originally from Rhode Island, Martha retired from the United States Air Force as a colonel in 2010. She has made her home in Tucson for a number of years, first arriving in the Old Pueblo in 1994, the first of her four assignments to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

She is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, and earned her Masters Degree, in Public Policy, from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In 1995, Martha was one of only seven active-duty Air Force officers selected for the prestigious Legislative Fellowship Program, working on Capitol Hill and serving as a national security advisor to Senator Jon Kyl.

Before resigning to run for office, Martha was Professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall Center in Germany where she taught and mentored senior government officials from all over the world in international and national security issues.

Now, Martha McSally wants to bring her extensive track record of leadership, moral courage and public service to the people of Southern Arizona. “It’s time we stopped talking and starting making our government work again,” said McSally, “When I see something messed up, I fix it. And right now, we have a lot of work to do.”
She is running for the seat Rep. Giffords (D-AZ) is vacating. Martha McSally - an A-10 driver with over 100 combat missions - works for me.



Awesome woman and a great example to all officers, male & female. Put her in Congress.

Great thing for her; "Congresswoman" outranks "Colonel." As Rep. West will be able to tell her; zen.

Speaking of Field Grade officers in Congress .... we need to throw a few schekels in to LtCol & Rep. West's "moving fund" as Florida is shuffling its districts to add in new ones, and West is moving to be in one of the new districts. Also, LtCol & Senator Scott Brown has a tough race in Mass. against the self-proclaimed mother of the Occupy movement.

You don't have to agree with all these people all the time - but you can't complain that no one on The Hill understands the military when you don't help them get elected.

25 comments:

MAJHAM@GTMO said...

Call the COL a Teabagger at your own peril.  She will be a welcome addition to LTC (Ret) West and an upgrade from Gabby Giffords to whom I wish the best of luck in recovery and a long retirement.

LT Rusty said...

The A-10 could use a good friend in Congress these days ...

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ewok40k said...

Entire TACAIR could - http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/5/fleets-fade-away-with-pentagon-budget-cuts/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS

UltimaRatioRegis said...

Okay, show of hands....

Who would like to see this woman punch Patsy Schroeder right in the face?

TheMightyQ said...

Additionally, an extremely stong background in foreign policy and international affairs never hurt someone in government.

LazyChop said...

I don't get all the love for Representative West. The only time I see his name is when it's related to some fundraising speech - not too often related to, say, work in Congress.

That said, I'm interested to learn more about Col. McSally. I forgot she was the lead on getting that silly abaya-for-women reg thrown out. Lord knows if she can get CENTCOM to actually change a policy, she'll be a rockstar in Congress.

Skippy-san said...

"Just like Allen West"-yet another reason to donate to the other candidates.

Why not do a Diversity Thursday post-and point out that over 41 vets are running for Congress-and none will get the coverage this one particular one will. Now that would be a public service.

cdrsalamander said...

... ummmm, all 41 have yet to break above the ambient noise.  If you want to post that over on your blog though - I'll link to it.

Redeye80 said...

Retired Col at 22 years of service?  Wow!  I guess she upset too many stars in the AF to be a star herself??  Curious.

Skippy-san said...

I am waiting till March-in the spirit of Women's History month of course. But I will be happy to donate to Patrick Murphy for you.....   :)

Casey Tompkins said...

Maybe it's because West pisses off the Country Club Republicans as often as he does the Democratic Party, along with their wholly-owned subsidiary the MSM.

The Usual Suspect said...

Donated.

Aubrey said...

You know, I was ready support her already, but the USS Giffords fiasco just got the good Colonel the max donation...

Can't really do anything about the political whoring of that ship, but the very least we can do is make sure the namesake seat turns red

Skippy-san said...

Do some more digging-you will find that she was doing a joint tour at Africom as a newly minted Colonel. Getting joint qualified, already had squadron command, had been promoted 4 years early to LTC-would seem a perfect set up for a Vice Wing Commander and then on to 1 star. Yet she retired with minimum time in grade.

NOT ALL IS AS IT SEEMS said...

Not all is at it seems on paper with this particular individual; callsign Wedge. Problems similar to Newt's. Callsign equals simplest tool for good reason. Maybe an academic star, but not a decision making one.

Mike Kozlowski, USAF (Ret.) said...

...COL McSally deserves the same respect and admiration I give to anyone who has flown in combat, and especially those who fly the Hog.  Anyone wants to put down her record there will have to go through me first.  However, she has what can most kindly be described as a serious attitude problem.  She is Right, first, last and always,... whether she is or not.  Her refusal to wear a chador while in the KSA might have had the quiet and solid support of just about everyone who ever served there, but she challenged the rules not only loudly but publicly. There are ways to go about this sort of thing, and she threw every last one of them out the window. because she could not concieve of being mistaken.  And given the fact that she was willing to wipe out an otherwise stellar career on the matter of the off-duty uniform regs she might have to deal with for a few short months, I am deeply concerned about what future crusades she might embark on.

Best regards,
Mike Kozlowski

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