# Meet the Canada's First Female Combat General - Macleans



## dimsum (3 Jun 2016)

> Later this month, the 47-year-old Carignan will be promoted to the rank of brigadier-general (a one-star general), earning the title of chief of staff of Army operations. Although there are other Canadian female generals, up to now they have risen from non-combatant disciplines such as intelligence, medicine or development aid. Carignan is the first woman in Canada—and so far as the Forces can determine, the first in the world—to rise to her rank from the combat arms trades. In the Canadian Army, women comprise just 2.4 per cent of regular force combat arms trades, compared to 14.8 per cent of the overall Army. Carignan is changing that statistic by increasing recruitment of women to combat roles, and she’s doing it her way, as a stereotype-defying mother of four.



I remember reading about her in the Aus Army news when she re-visited Australia in 2013 or so, when they finally began opening up Combat Arms trades for women.

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/jennie-carignan-will-be-the-first-female-general-from-the-combat-arms-trades/


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## PPCLI Guy (3 Jun 2016)

What?  Engineers are combat arms?   >


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## The Bread Guy (3 Jun 2016)

PPCLI Guy said:
			
		

> What?  Engineers are combat arms?   >


Of a kind ...  >


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## Blackadder1916 (3 Jun 2016)

A little late to be the first female engineer general in the world.

https://www.army.mil/article/72904/First_woman_promoted_to_general_within_Army_Corps_of_Engineers/


> CINCINNATI, Ohio (Feb. 1, 2012) -- In a historic ceremony, Brig. Gen. Margaret W. Burcham became the first woman to be promoted to general officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jan. 27, 2012, in the Corps' Washington, D.C. headquarters.
> . . .



Her official biography
http://www.jcs.mil/Leadership/ArticleView/tabid/3893/Article/572024/brig-gen-margaret-w-burcham.aspx


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## Lumber (3 Jun 2016)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> Of a kind ...  >



Yep, just like Pilots and MARS officers  ;D


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## Journeyman (3 Jun 2016)

PPCLI Guy said:
			
		

> What?  Engineers are combat arms?   >


All part of that "every kid gets a ribbon; no feelings are hurt" thing.  I think the Gunners started it.


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## Lightguns (3 Jun 2016)

Blackadder1916 said:
			
		

> A little late to be the first female engineer general in the world.
> 
> https://www.army.mil/article/72904/First_woman_promoted_to_general_within_Army_Corps_of_Engineers/
> Her official biography
> http://www.jcs.mil/Leadership/ArticleView/tabid/3893/Article/572024/brig-gen-margaret-w-burcham.aspx



The Corps of Engineers is mostly a civil engineering organization in the states.  Personally, big congrats, getting to General is tough.


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## Blackadder1916 (3 Jun 2016)

Lightguns said:
			
		

> The Corps of Engineers is mostly a civil engineering organization in the states.  Personally, big congrats, getting to General is tough.



Not to get into a pissing contest, but the US Army Corps of Engineers, besides being the title of the largest civil engineering organization (and separate federal agency) in the United States, is also a "basic branch" to which all US Army "military engineering" officers are assigned, in the same manner that all engineer officers (well, the guys that blow shit up as well as the guys that replace light bulbs) wear the CME hat badge.  There is often quite a lot of movement of officers from the "military" engineering side of the house to the "civil" engineering side.  In the case of that particular officer, some of the "field force" units in which she served included: 516th Engineer Company (Medium Girder Bridge); HHC, 130th Engineer Brigade; 864th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy); 94th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy).


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## Ostrozac (3 Jun 2016)

And aside from the U.S. Corps of Engineers, US Army Air Defense Artillery is certainly a combat arm, and MGen Brown (currently of STRATCOM) certainly made BGen before BGen Carignan.

https://www.stratcom.mil/biographies/213/Major_General_Heidi_V_Brown/

So the article from the original post is poorly researched, to say the least.


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## The Bread Guy (3 Jun 2016)

Ostrozac said:
			
		

> So the article from the original post is poorly researched, to say the least.


But, but, but ... it says this in the article:


> ... so far as the Forces can determine ...


I guess they stopped "determining" a bit too early - after all, it _must_ be the truth, based on the motto of the folks who brought this to you  >





We'll see how many media outlets run with that phrase without doing their own homework.

That *DOESN'T* take away from Col/Brigadier-to-be Carignan's achievement, though


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## Ostrozac (3 Jun 2016)

milnews.ca said:
			
		

> That *DOESN'T* take away from Col/Brigadier-to-be Carignan's achievement, though



Well, yes, good for her, commanded a regiment (5RGC) and MSMs don't grow on trees. She certainly seems like a solid choice for Army COS Ops. 

But that doesn't mean that Maclean's should be lying to the public (and quoting the Canadian Forces as a source for their pack of lies).


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## The Bread Guy (4 Jun 2016)

Blackadder1916 said:
			
		

> ... In the case of that particular officer, some of the "field force" units in which she served included: 516th Engineer Company (Medium Girder Bridge); HHC, 130th Engineer Brigade; 864th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy); 94th Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy).


That's pretty clear cut - even _I_ recognize those as combat-arms-ish units.



			
				Ostrozac said:
			
		

> But that doesn't mean that Maclean's should be lying to the public (and quoting the Canadian Forces as a source for their pack of lies).


"That guy" public affairs zen question:  If CF says "x" and media quotes "x", but reality is closer to "y", is it the _media's_ lie, or the _CF's_ lie?  Or "mistake/error"?  Discuss  >

We also don't know how the conversation went:  "Is this the first in the world?"  "Well, she's the first in Canada, and we don't know of any others."  If _that_ was the conversation, did the CF even look?  That would be  different than the CF claiming, "she's the first in the world as far as we know".  We don't know what the CF said exactly, we only know what was written.

I guess we'll see what the Info-machine writes when it all becomes official.


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## Calvillo (15 Jun 2016)

Out of curiosity, why does the article mention BGen Carignan as a 'one-star' general? Is this not a case of Americanization? In the Canadian Army, the stars indicate junior and senior officers (except Majors), I believe.

Should she not be 'one-maple-leaf general'?


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## dimsum (15 Jun 2016)

Calvillo said:
			
		

> Out of curiosity, why does the article mention BGen Carignan as a 'one-star' general? Is this not a case of Americanization? In the Canadian Army, the stars indicate junior and senior officers (except Majors), I believe.
> 
> Should she not be 'one-maple-leaf general'?



She should, and it is an Americanization, but I've heard British, Australian and other GOFOs being termed "X-star" so maybe that's an easy "rule of thumb" to use for the public.  

Also, the Junior/Senior officer pips wouldn't be called "stars".


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## Loachman (15 Jun 2016)

Perhaps we should start referring to all Army Officers by the number and shape of their rankthingies, ie "three-pipper".


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## Journeyman (15 Jun 2016)

Loachman said:
			
		

> Perhaps we should start referring to all Army Officers by the number and shape of their rankthingies, ie "three-pipper".


And in a Highland unit would be....... wait for it.......


...a three-pipper long stockings.   ;D     Oh man, I slay me sometimes.....


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## McG (15 Jun 2016)

Dimsum said:
			
		

> ... it is an Americanization,...


It probably is, but across NATO only Canada, UK and France do not use stars in conforming numbers for generals (Canada has leafs in conforming numbers, France has one extra star, and the UK just does its own thing).  Maybe the term is a "NATO-ization"?


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## The Bread Guy (16 Jun 2016)

For the record, now official:


> Brigadier-General Jennie Carignan became the highest-ranked woman in the Combat Arms yesterday, June 15, in a ceremony presided over by the Commander of the Canadian Defence Academy, Major-General Eric Tremblay.
> 
> The Canadian Army considers Brigadier-General Carignan’s promotion exciting, since she was among the first women to enter the Combat Engineer trade after all military occupations were opened to women in 1989 (with the exception of submarine service which opened to women in 2000). With her promotion, she assumes the role of Chief of Staff, Army Operations.  Brigadier-General Carignan’s background is exceptional, with 30 years of military service. She holds several degrees, including a Degree in Fuels and Materials Engineering (Royal Military College of Canada), a Masters of Business Administration (Université Laval), and a Masters of Military Arts and Science (United States Army School of Advanced Military Studies, Kansas). She has deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Golan Heights, and Afghanistan as the Commanding Officer of the Task Force Kandahar Engineer Regiment. Brigadier-General Carignan recently received the prestigious medal Gloire de l'Escolle which recognizes graduates from l'Université Laval who have distinguished themselves professionally and in service to their communities ...


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## PPCLI Guy (19 Jun 2016)

Well done BGen Carignan - truly well deserved.


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