Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody: The First Woman to Become a Four-Star Officer in the U.S. Military | Megyn Kelly Today

So in honor of Women's History Month, all week we are airing stories about women who are breaking through barriers as part of our series, She Made It. Retired General Anne Dunwoody served nearly four decades in the U.S. military, rising in 2008 to become the first four-star general, first female forces in all the military. Here is her incredible story. I'm the first female four-star general officer in the military. I have four generations of West Points in my family. My brother, my dad, my grandfather, my great-grandfather. Probably had the best mom and dad that a person could ever have, and I never heard the words glass ceiling or brass ceiling in my house. They believed we could be anything we wanted to be with hard work and commitment. My junior year in college is right at the end of the Vietnam War, and they were trying to recruit more women into the military at the time. And so they came up with this program that if you were accepted and qualified, they were going to pay you $500 a month during your senior year in college, and you had a two-year commitment. Now $500 wasn't a lot of money back then, so I raised my hand, I signed up. When I joined, they still had the Women's Army Corps, and shortly after I joined, they began the integration of women into the regular army. So for the first time, women had the same opportunities as their male counterparts in the branches and career fields that were open to women. The army sent me to airborne school, so I got to learn how to jump out of airplanes, and I had long hair then, and I refused to cut it. And they said, hey, those barrettes, they are dangerous. The intent behind that was to get me to cut my hair and look like, you know, the guys. And so I got some masking tape, and I taped my hair up, and then I put my helmet on, and I never heard another word from them again. I think our challenge was to make sure that we wouldn't allow the leadership to put us back in the old traditional roles like the cook or the secretary, that we were given the opportunities that were equal to our male counterparts. My two years was up, I remember telling my dad, you know, I really love being a soldier, and I love leading soldiers, and so I'm going to stay in as long as I enjoy what I'm doing and I can make a difference. And two years turned into five years, turned into 10 years, turned into 38 years. I got promoted in 2008 to four-star. Well, I still get emotional thinking about the nomination. Men, women, moms, dads, girls, veterans, people from around the world saying how happy they were that this moment had finally come. I've been blessed that sometimes people open the doors for me, sometimes I open the door, and sometimes you have to kick down the door. And we're back now with retired four-star general Ann Dunwoody. She is the first female four-star general in the United States military, in the military, number one, the first one. General, it's great to have you. Thank you so much. So can I just tell you, I love that you are here, you're feminine, you're gorgeous, you got the long hair, you even shed a tear when the audience gave it gave that standing O, and that's okay with you. You're fine embracing that beautiful, feminine, sometimes emotional side of yourself, despite the fact that you kicked some ass for a living. I like to tell people that even in the military, you don't have to give up your femininity to be successful, and you don't have to use it to be successful as well. Just be fair, be professional, do your job, and try to exceed the standards. See, if that's true in the army, then it's true in all of our jobs too. But let's talk about that, because it's not like you didn't experience any sexism. By the way, did that hurt when you pulled the masking tape out of the hair? I would never admit it. So you did experience sexism, but I love what you write in the book, which was that you believed you were just going to need to exceed standards, and then once you became a leader, you recognized that all of the best people around you, male or female, were committed to exceeding standards. Exactly, and I didn't really think about it in 75 when I came in. I just thought as a woman in this male-dominated world that to be accepted in the ranks that I would have to always exceed the standards, and what I did realize throughout my journey was all the leaders that I respected, all the leaders I looked up to, also held themselves to a higher standard and encouraged their subordinates to do the same. And that excellence will overcome hard work, and excellence can, not always, but can overcome bias that's against you when you first get there. That's certainly been my experience, that you can make believers out of non-believers if you exceed the standards. So let's talk about that, because in the book you say three things that you need to know to succeed are recognize your advocates, your patronizers, and your detractors. What does that mean? Well, we've all worked for all kinds of leaders, and so have I, and the advocates, fortunately for me, I had so many leaders, mentors, and coaches that were advocates, and those are people that believe in you, look out for you, help you journey your way through this, through the military. The other two categories, which are much smaller in my life, I call them patronizers, and those are the people that say, hey, great work, and then behind your back you're saying, you know, she's not okay, or something, so you don't know. And then the distractors are just people that don't like you, this is a man's world, you don't belong in it. And what do you do about those last two categories? What I tell people, what I found is stay on the moral high ground, don't lower your standards, don't succumb to name-calling, or innuendos, which is briefs well, but it's hard to do, because when someone's mean to you, first thing you want to do is fight back. And I found by staying on the moral high ground, by being fair, by being professional, and by exceeding the standards, you could make some believers. Did you get some patronizers and some detractors over on your side? I did. Did you? Not all of them, not all of them. Right, but I was actually talking to Kathy Lee Gifford about this not long ago, and she goes, oh, I never worry about my critics, I've outlived them all. It must feel particularly good when your harshest critics die. Sorry, was that out loud? I think the patronizers are the hardest group, because they're just not sincere. So what do you think now, when you look around at how women in the military are doing, where are they? I am so proud. I mean, my experience is the doors continue to open for me, from the beginning to the end, and not without roadblocks and bumps along the way. But I look back now, and we just had three females graduate from Ranger School. I mean, I can't even fathom doing something like that, nor would I want to do something like that, but jumping out of airplanes was cool. And they did it to standard, they exceeded the standards, and now we have women who, by choice, wanted to go and I think made a lot of believers out of non-believers. You don't have women that can do that. My niece graduated in Air Force Academy 2000. She's an A-10 pilot. Nice. Yeah, I know. But thanks to women like you. Thanks to women like you who had it harder than they did, and hopefully these women are paving the way for the women to come after them. Thank you so much for telling your story, and I've got good news for you guys again. You're all getting a copy of General Dunwoody's book, A Higher Standard, A Higher Standard. A beautiful piece of advice.