The Alabama National Guard will soon be under female command for the first time in history.
Major General Sheryl Gordon was named by Governor Kay Ivey as the guard’s adjutant general yesterday. Ivey calls Gordon a “trailblazer and visionary leader” in a recent press release. Gordon is the first woman ever to hold that post.
Gordon became a second lieutenant in 1981, a brigadier general in 2009 and a major general two years later. She currently serves as the executive director of the National Guard Association of Alabama, and has previously served as the deputy adjutant general, commander of the 62nd Troop Command and garrison commander of the Ft. McClellan Training Center.
She will take over command of the Alabama National Guard August 1, replacing the retiring Major General Perry Smith.