Brig. Gen. Marcia Anderson looks toward the future
by Lisa Nunez
Marcia M. Anderson has the obvious focus, drive, and charisma to be successful in any field she chooses. She chose the Army Reserve. Today, she is the first Black woman to hold the rank of Brigadier General in the Wisconsin Army Reserve.
Brig. Gen Marcia Anderson
“The people I serve with do it because of a feeling that is hard to define, for most of us.” Anderson says. “It is something we need to do for our community, our friends, [and] our family. This is how I do my public service.”
Anderson began her 30-year military career almost accidentally. Unable to take a required college class because it conflicted with her job, she chose the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). When she completed the program and was offered the option to join the Army Reserve, she committed.
Andersoncouldn’t stop studying and learning. Her academic career includes a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law and a masters degree in strategic studies from the United States Army War College.
Anderson radiates efficiency and enthusiasm as she discusses her Reserve work. Her command approach is to solicit input. “Just because I have the most senior rank doesn’t mean I’m the smartest person in the room,” she says. “We have to ask for debate. The old way [of giving and taking orders] won’t cut it.”
From the time she received her commission in 1979 from the ROTC program at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., Anderson’s specialty has been training. She was appointed acting assistant Division commander-Operations for the 95th Division’s institutional training in Topeka, Kan., in June 2006. Her current duties include command of the Regional Support Group West, Training Support Division-West, which supports training and mobilization of reservists throughout the western United States.
Anderson holds many awards, including three Meritorious Service medals, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. She has volunteered for frontline duty but has not yet been called up.
Confirmed by the Senate, Anderson took her brigadier general rank effective March 15. She toured bases, attended meetings, and became acquainted with senior leaders. “It is still a shock to me,” she says of the promotion, which required a great deal of study, experience, and work to achieve. Although she carries the rank, she won’t have a brigadier general post until enough brigadier generals retire and a post becomes available.
Anderson keeps personal priorities in sight as well. “I tell my military staff that there are certain commitments that are inviolate,” she says. The brigadier general likes, for example, to make sure that she gets in a round or two of golf with her husband, Amos Anderson.
“I am the ‘big picture’ person,” says Anderson. This strength allows her to work a civilian job as Bankruptcy Court clerk while traveling for her military duties. “I plan ahead,” she says. And, most important, she adds: “I have a great military staff. I trust them to do their jobs.”
The modern army outfits its officers with Blackberry organizers and maintains contact. “It is a constant bombardment of information,” Anderson says. The virtually instant communication leads to more open decision making. “It does allow you to find out about things earlier and get things done sooner,” she said.
“We really are in the middle of a conflict. It might not always feel like a war, but it really is. We have to do certain things,” she says. The Army Reserve was intended to supplement shortages in the standing army, to actually be a reserve force, but it was historically underutilized until the Iraq War. Troop shortages cause a demand for reservists, putting more pressure on Reserve training units.
“The Reserve is being used, for the first time, in the way we should have been for years,” says Anderson. “But it is adding stress to families. It is a stress on employers, big or small.”
In April, Anderson accepted Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle’s nomination to serve on the Wisconsin Board of Veterans Affairs until May 2013. The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs provides Wisconsin veterans, their families, and their survivors with health, educational, economic, and social assistance. A seven-member, part-time citizens’ board directs and supervises the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg with veterans of my era,” Anderson said. “We’re going to face different challenges, with post-traumatic stress syndrome and traumatic brain injuries. We don’t know how these injuries will impact people five, 10, 20 years from now. It is important to be ahead of that wave. Those folks are going to exhibit medical and maybe mental conditions that we aren’t currently prepared to support, either on the state or federal level.”
Undeterred by the difficulty of her work, Anderson says, “I was very fortunate. I had role models in my civilian work and in the military who showed me it is important to do what is right, to speak out, even if it is uncomfortable.”
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May 10th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Great story. I would like to see her as the next Secretary of the Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Dept.
It could certainly use someone like her to straighten out the mess.