Women in the Corps of Cadets
Women undergo the same leader development and education program and are treated the same as men in the Corps. Women have held every rank in the Corps of Cadets from private to colonel. Approximately 10% of the Corps of Cadets are women (70-80 Cadets). Women room with other women in the same Cadet residence halls as male Cadets. Women have separate bathrooms.
Some of our women Cadets are highlighted below.
CPT Angel Tomko
(August 2012) CPT Tomko, a 2007 North Georgia Graduate, currently serves as the officer in charge of 1st Infantry Division's female engagement teams (FETs) in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. CPT Tomko's FETs provide support and resources for women in Afghanistan by organizing women's shuras (councils) to discuss the needs and wants of the female population to better their way of life. FETs also conduct missions to render humanitarian aid to remote villages, teach drip bucket irrigation classes to women, and work to provide educational resources to children. CPT Tomko and other America servicewomen work diligently to help Afghan women gain literacy, safety and a way to provide for their families in the face of Taliban violence and oppression.
LT Kelli Foley
(January 2011) LT Foley graduated from North Georgia College & State University with a bachelor's degree in International Affairs and received her commission in December 2010 as a second lieutenant in the US Army (Engineer Corps).
"I'm planning on staying in for the long haul. I want to get as much training and experience as I can," she said. "I'm interested in deploying. I don't want to miss that opportunity. This is our generation's opportunity to go to war ....I didn't want the ROTC experience like you're going to find at your standard college, where you go in uniform once or twice a week ... I wanted the 24-hour type of experience. That's what you're going to have on active duty, so you might as well get used to it."
Foley was a member of the Golden Eagle Band and rose through the ranks to become its leader. She also graduated as a Distinguished Military Student, a designation earned by those cadets who ranked in the top 20 percent on the National Order of Merit List.
While earning her degree in international affairs, Foley studied abroad in China and learned conversational Mandarin Chinese. She's hoping to use her degree and eventual military experience to spend a career in either civil affairs or psychological operations -- jobs that mean working with native peoples in their own countries.
"They're the people who are on the ground with the locals, and that's something I'm really interested in," she said.
Cadet Colonel Ashlie Shrewsbury
Cadet Colonel Ashlie Shrewsbury, the Commander of the Boar's Head Brigade for 2009-2010. She was the first woman brigade commander in the history of the Corps of Cadets. Ashlie majored in Spanish and attended the Defense Language Institute for Russian. During her years as a Cadet, she was also a soldier in the Georgia Army National Guard on a full academic scholarship. She graduated and commissioned as a military intelligence lieutenant in the National Guard in Summer 2010.
