Decorated Army veteran and 2004 recipient of ODU’s Distinguished Alumni Award remains true to her motto: “Mission first, people always”

By Jennifer Mullen

As the highest-ranking female military officer among Old Dominion University alumni, Brig. Gen. Kathleen M. Gainey has traveled a different path from her initial intentions when she graduated in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in special education. But this insightful, pragmatic U.S. Army officer has taught – and learned – many lessons in her 26-year career, which may yet take her full circle. Gainey is the director for force projection and distribution with the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, G-4, at the Pentagon, a position to which she was appointed in April 2004. She is responsible for improving the Army’s ability to deploy and the well-being of soldiers through policies, programs and systems. Her directive is to explore, create and implement innovative ways to most effectively get troops, equipment and supplies to the battle zone – and other areas – and to handle situations when there is not time to organize and provide traditional support.

“As the Army transforms, we must adjust the policies, procedures and guidance that had been written for a different force and a slower deployment timeline,” Gainey said, explaining that there is a faster turnaround time for getting troops overseas in a time of war. “It is a great opportunity to help reshape the guidance to meet the new challenges of a more mobile and modular Army.”

Although she has impressively climbed the ranks in a male-dominated military and enthusiastically proclaims, “I love what I do,” Gainey had not always been destined to be an Army officer.

“I had always wanted to be a teacher and loved working with kids,” she said of her major in special education at Old Dominion.

But finances and two siblings in college at the same time led her to join the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps at ODU.

“I needed the $100 per month cadets received,” she recalled, saying that she had planned to join the reserves anyway to supplement her teaching salary.

“During the ROTC program, I gained a lot of confidence in myself and I really enjoyed the challenges it gave me. In my senior year, I decided to apply for a scholarship. I had planned to complete my obligation of four years and then teach.”

Four years turned into 26 and Gainey, who has earned the Defense Superior Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Legion of Merit and Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, among other honors, is still as hard-charging as the day in 1978 when she joined what was then called the Women’s Army Corps.

Although the defense department abolished the WAC later that year and began commissioning women in the regular Army or reserves, it was still a challenge for Gainey and her female peers.

“You had to prove your competence and dedication more than your male peers,” she said, noting that she believed the additional work made her a better officer. “There were many jobs closed to women at that time. But every year I stayed in, more and more were open to women.”

She recalled that as integration became more widespread, male soldiers began to see women as equals and capable of completing the same mission. Over the years, she said, her mentors have all been men who believed in her and urged her to take the difficult jobs.

A veteran of 1991’s Desert Storm, Gainey has held assignments in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Germany and a host of U.S. states. She has learned to value diversity, she said, and the knowledge that there are many ways to accomplish a task.

“It is very important to understand the culture of the country you are working with and to adapt to the ways they believe are correct. This facilitates finding a win-win solution.”

Another lesson she has learned is what is now her motto, “Mission first, people always.”
“You must accomplish the job, but you do not have to drive your people into the ground to do this,” she explained. “Sometimes you must subordinate your own desires and your workers’ to the higher task – accomplishing the mission. But you must invest time and energy in your people, as they are the most precious resource. With a little bit of encouragement and recognition, people will take initiative and excel beyond your wildest dreams.”

Gainey notes that she will retire from the Army when “it stops being fun,” although that seems unlikely any time soon. But if and when the time comes to chart a new path, she wants to work with disadvantaged kids.

The woman who has traveled the world over, seen war and peace, and helped lead the Army into the realities of 21st-century battle, has never lost sight of her first love. Just like the thousands of young soldiers she has helped mold over the years, she wants to impart the lessons of life to a younger group with so much potential.

“I think if you can motivate these kids early on and show them they can succeed, then they will.”