COLUMBUS – The Ohio Air National Guard will soon have its first female brigadier general.
A guard release says Col. Rebecca O’Connor will become brigadier general in the Ohio Air National Guard during a promotion ceremony Friday afternoon at Beightler Armory on the Northwest Side.
O’Connor also will become the guard’s chief of staff.
The guard says O’Connor has served in numerous operational and staff positions and commanded units at the squadron and group level. She has served as commander of the 124th Intelligence Squadron and the 178th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group.
O’Connor also served as vice commander of the 178th Wing at the Springfield Air National Guard Base.
In her post as chief of staff she will help oversee the 4,700 men and women in the guard’s four wings and six geographically separated units who are poised to support community, state and federal missions.
O’Connor enlisted in the Ohio Air National Guard in October 1986 as a member of the 162nd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Springfield Air National Guard Base and earned her commission in 1993.