 |
| Air
Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. (Dr.) George Peach Taylor
Jr., left and Maj. Gen. Barbara C. Brannon, right, display
a letter from Michael L. Dominguez,
acting secretary of the Air Force during her retirement
ceremony at the Bolling Officers Club July 22.
(U.S. Air Force photo)
|
WASHINGTON
–
Maj. Gen. Barbara C. Brannon, assistant
Air Force surgeon general for both medical force development
and nursing services, ended 30 years and nine months
of active-duty service during a retirement ceremony at the
Bolling AFB Officers Club July 22.
Hundreds
attended the ceremony, which was officiated by Air Force
Surgeon General Lt. Gen. (Dr.) George Peach Taylor Jr.
During the ceremony Taylor presented Brannon with the Distinguished
Service Medal.
"It
was a day in December 1975 when Second Lieutenant Brannon
started at Andrews,” Taylor said. “And now, fast forward,
30 years later, on a balmy day, she is retiring as the first
nurse to be a two-star general in the Air Force.”
Taylor
described how Brannon had come out of the command track
after clinical experience in intensive care and aeromedical
evacuation. He noted that she was a group commander
three times: at Vance AFB, Okla., Aviano Air Base, Italy,
and Andrews AFB, Md.
“Junior
nurses should take note,” Taylor said.
Taylor
added that he was most appreciative of all she has done
for force development, to create a balanced force to ensure
that the Air Force Medical Service “has the right person
in the right job at the right time.”
In
her farewell message to the Total Nursing Force, Brannon
wrote that during the 17 assignments of her career, what
mattered most was that she “had as much responsibility as
she earned.”
“I
worked with great people,” she wrote. “I could be
innovative and initiate change. My boundaries were
limited only by imagination and my willingness to accept
risk. There were struggles … but no one said success
would be easy.”
Brannon’s
retirement was also noted by the United States Senate, specifically
by Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, (D-Hawaii), the third most senior
member of the U.S. Senate, and World War II combat veteran
who received the Medal of Honor.
Earlier
in the month, Inouye entered a statement about her into
the Congressional Record. The statement read in part:
“Mr. President, today I wish to recognize a great American
and a true military heroine who has honorably served our
country for 30-plus years in the United States Air Force
Nurse Corps: Major General Barbara C. Brannon.
“In
each assignment, General Brannon excelled and overcame every
challenge, accompanied by reward with greater responsibilities
and opportunities.
“Her
career culminates in a dual role as Assistant Air Force
Surgeon General, Medical Force Development and Assistant
Air Force Surgeon General for Nursing, through which she
established and appraised personnel policy and force development
actions for over 40,000 active duty officer, enlisted, and
civilian medical personnel.
“I
extend my deepest appreciation to Major General Brannon
for her thirty-plus years of dedicated military service
and offer her my congratulations on a phenomenal and inspirational
career.”
