The first woman to lead the U.S. military’s massive logistical enterprise and one of just a handful to ever reach the rank of four-star general in the U.S. military retired Friday. Air Force Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost passed command of U.S. Transportation Command to Gen. Randall Reed in a ceremony at Scott Air Force Base attended by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Promoted to General in August of 2020, Van Ovost was the senior officer in that rank among the four women four-star generals and admirals across the U.S. military.
As the head of TRANSCOM, Ovost was responsible for coordinating nearly all movement of U.S. troops, weapons and supplies around the globe. The logistics command dispatches hundreds of military and civilian-owned planes, ships, trains and trucks every day.
“Just a few days ago, we celebrated the 37th birthday of TRANSCOM — a command that was born out of necessity that was built to deploy U.S. forces. Over time, our mandate has expanded to project, maneuver and sustain the joint force at a time and place our nation’s choosing,” Van Ovost said at the change of command ceremony. “If we were a necessity, we are indispensable now.”
At the ceremony, Austin spoke of Van Ovost as a trailblazer for women in the service.
“You’ve always had a message for women in uniform. And that message is: ‘Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it,’” Austin said. ”Every time that you encountered an obstacle, you kept at it.“
CBS News reported in 2023 that only 10 women have ever reached the four-star rank across the military, including the Coast Guard. Of those, Van Ovost was the fifth woman in the Air Force to reach the rank. However, the military she retired from Friday holds far more opportunities for women than when she joined, an era when women not yet allowed to fly fighter jets, Van Ovost’s lifelong goal.
So she found a workaround.
“You wanted to fly Mach 2. But back then, women weren’t allowed to fly fighters. So once again, you made the path wider,” Austin said. “You became a test pilot. And you flew more than 30 aircraft, including F-15s and F-16s.”
Van Ovost retired with more than 4,200 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft.
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Van Ovost’s determination to join the military began when her application was denied by the U.S. Air Force Academy. She went to community college to improve her grades and installed a pull-up bar at home, Austin said. She graduated from the academy in 1988 with a degree in aeronautical engineering.
When Van Ovost was promoted to General in 2020, she was the only woman in the military to hold that rank. Since then, three other women have gotten their fourth star: Army Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of U.S. Southern Command; and two service chiefs, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan and Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, chief of Naval Operations. Franchetti, who was promoted to Admiral just a month after Ovost got her fourth star, is the first woman to ever sit on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Van Ovost took command of TRANSCOM in October 2021 and before that led the Air Force’s arm within it, Air Mobility Command. As the head of AMC, Van Ovost oversaw the fleet of Air Force planes at the heart of the military’s largest non-combatant evacuation in history, the pull-out of Afghanistan and evacuation from Hamid Karzai International Airport. She has been the leader at TRANSCOM as the agency has delivered $21 billions of dollars in aid and weapons to Ukraine and Israel.
During her flying career, Van Ovost commanded an air refueling squadron, a flight training wing and the 89th Airlift Wing, which flies and maintains the Air Force’s VIP jets and Air Force One.. She served as the vice commander for mobility forces in the Middle East and vice commander for the Air Force Expeditionary Center.
According to TRANSCOM spokesperson Capt. John Fage, as a leader, Van Ovost did not boast about her groundbreaking positions but embraced an expression as a role model for younger women, telling many, “You can’t be what you can’t see.”