Brigadier General Darlene M. Goff | |
---|---|
![]() Darlene M. Goff | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/ | National Guard |
Years of service | 37 years |
Rank | Brigadier General |
Awards | Meritorious Service Medal Army Commendation Medal with 3 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal with 1 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal with 1 Silver and 1 Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Service Medal with 1 Bronze Star, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with Gold Hourglass Devise, Army Service Ribbon, Army Reserve Component Overseas Training Ribbon with Numeral 2, and South Carolina Governor’s Unit Citation |
Spouse(s) | Colonel Eddie Goff |
Brigadier General Darlene M. Goff (Ret.) is the first female general officer of the South Carolina National Guard. She retired in March 2015. [1]
Goff is originally from Ninety Six, South Carolina. [1]
She graduated from Lander in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology. [2] [3] In 1993, Goff earned her Master of Arts degree in Computer and Information Resource Management from Webster University. She also has a Master of Strategic Studies Degree from the United States Army War College, which she earned in 2007. [3]
In 2011, Goff was the commencement speaker at Lander, and was given an honorary Doctor of Science Degree. [2] [3]
After college she was looking for work, and talked with a Guard recruiter. Her first job was as a telecommunications center operator, or as Goff put it, "a typist." [1]
In 1977, Goff enlisted. [2] [3]
In 1981, she finished officer training at Palmetto Military Academy in Columbia, and earned her commission as second lieutenant. [2]
Over 29 years she would continue to move up in rank. [2] On June 25, 1984, she was promoted to first lieutenant. She moved up to captain four years later. On March 1, 1996, Goff was then promoted to major. It wouldn't be until 2004 when she'd rise in rank to lieutenant colonel. Three years later on April 26, Goff earned the title of colonel. On December 22, 2010, she was again promoted. This time to brigadier general. [3] Her various positions in these roles included communications, maintenance, headquarters, and human resource units. [1]
On September 26, 2011, Brigadier General Goff assumed her duties as the Director of Joint Staff, also known as the South Carolina's Army and Air Guard Leadership Group. [1] [3] In turn, she became the first female general officer in the South Carolina Military Department. [4] Her duties in this particular role included leadership development for the South Carolina National Guard. She was responsible for the Guard's in-state operations if they were called by the government to take care of natural or man-made disasters. [1] [4] She was one of only 21 female officers in the National Guard, and the highest-ranking female officer of the South Carolina Army National Guard. [1] [2] In March 2015, after 37 years in uniform, Brigadier General Goff formally stepped down from her position and retired. [1] [5]
Over her career, she had been sent to Japan, Okinawa, Panama, and Belgium. [1]
Goff is a member of many different boards and organizations: National Guard Association of the United States, South Carolina National Guard Association, Leadership South Carolina, Diversity of the Midlands: South Carolina, and Board of Directors Alston Wilkes Society. She is also the Vice Chair of the Youth ChalleNGe Board. [2] [3]
Goff has earned numerous awards. These include: [3]
Goff is married to Colonel Eddie Goff, USA (Ret.), a 34-year Army Veteran. [2]
Claudia Jean Kennedy is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army. She is the first woman to reach the rank of three-star general in the United States Army. She retired in 2000 after 31 years of military service.
Robert Lee Stewart is an American retired military officer and NASA astronaut who was a brigadier general of the United States Army.
Evelyn Patricia Foote is a retired United States Army officer. She served from 1959 to 1989, rising to the rank of brigadier general in 1986, and holds many firsts for women in the United States Army.
Ruben A. Cubero is a retired brigadier general of the United States Air Force who became the first Hispanic graduate of the United States Air Force Academy to be named dean of the faculty of the Air Force Academy.
Brigadier General Robin Umberg, Deputy Commander Clinical Services 3rd Medical Command, is one of several female United States Army general officers.
Brigadier General José M. Portela (Ret.),, is a retired officer of the United States Air Force who recently retired from the position of Assistant Adjutant General for Air, which he held while also serving as commander of the Puerto Rico Air National Guard. In 1972, Portela became the youngest C-141 Starlifter aircraft commander and captain at age 22. Portela is also the only reservist ever to serve as director of mobility forces for Bosnia. He is also the first native of Puerto Rico to hold the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve.
Patricia D. Horoho is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who served as the 43rd Surgeon General of the United States Army and Commanding General of the United States Army Medical Command. She was the second female Nurse Corps officer to hold the title of Army surgeon general but the first to be appointed and hold the position for a full term. In 2016, she was inducted into the United States Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame.
Major General Joyce "Joy" Stevens is a retired senior officer in the United States Army National Guard and the first female general officer in the Texas Army National Guard. She was promoted to brigadier general on 14 July 2006 and to major general on 5 August 2010. She served as assistant to the Adjutant General of the Texas Military Forces and dually titled as the Commander of the Texas Army National Guard, commanding approximately 19,000 soldiers and 117 armories in 102 communities across Texas.
Major General Daniel M. Krumrei served as Adjutant General of the Illinois National Guard. Historically, he is the 38th person to serve as Illinois' adjutant general.
Diana Maureen Holland is a retired major general in the United States Army, who last served as commanding general of the Mississippi Valley Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. She is a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. From January 2016 to June 2017, served as Commandant of Cadets at the United States Military Academy, the first woman to hold the position.
Harry E. Miller Jr. is a retired Army National Guard officer. A veteran of the Iraq War, he attained the rank of major general as commander of the 42nd Infantry Division, a position he held from 2013 to 2017.
John W. Lathrop was a brigadier general in the California Army National Guard who served as the commanding general of Train, Advise, and Assist Command South. He is a 1986 graduate of the University of California, Riverside, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Service and Political Science. He was commissioned through the Claremont College Reserve Officer Training Program where he received an appointment into the Active Component. During his more than 32 years of active and reserve service he has held command and staff positions across the Army, Reserves, and Joint Community in Korea, the United States, and Southwest Asia. He assumed his current assignment in October, 2017. He retired from service on December 31, 2018.
Sarah E. Zabel is a retired United States Air Force general and former vice director of the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) where she managed a federal agency of 16,000 military, civilian and contract personnel. Her principal mission was to plan, develop, deliver and operate command and control capabilities and a global enterprise infrastructure in direct support of the president, the secretary of defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the combatant commanders, the Department of Defense components and other mission partners across the full spectrum of operations.
Major General Laura L. Yeager is a retired officer in the United States Army National Guard. She became the commander of the National Guard's 40th Infantry Division on June 29, 2019 and served in that role until May 15, 2022. She is the first woman to command a United States Army infantry division.
Gregory C. Knight is a United States Army officer. In 2019, he was selected to serve as Adjutant General of Vermont.
Tracey Poirier is an officer in the Army National Guard. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps and United States Army, she has served in the military since 1991, and has been the director of the joint staff for the Vermont National Guard since 2022. Poirier's command assignments included the 186th Brigade Support Battalion and 124th Regiment. She was promoted to brigadier general in July 2023, and her awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, and Army Achievement Medal.
Major General Roy Van McCarty is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard who currently serves as South Carolina Adjutant General, he was appointed to the position by Governor Henry McMaster on January 17, 2019. As the states senior military officer, he serves as commander of the South Carolina Military Department which includes the South Carolina Army National Guard, South Carolina Air National Guard, South Carolina State Guard and the Emergency Management Division; he also advises the governor of the state on military matters.
Jeff W. Mathis III was a career officer in the United States Army. A longtime member of the Army National Guard, Mathis attained the rank of major general before retiring in 2014. A veteran of overseas deployment to Africa during the Global War on Terrorism, he was most notable for high profile command assignments including Joint Task Force – Civil Support (2012-2014) and I Corps (2009-2010).
John Austin Dubia was a lieutenant general in the United States Army who last served as Director of the Army Staff from 1995 to 1999. He was also executive vice president of AFCEA International until September 2013.
Roma Amundson is a retired U.S. Brigadier General and retired Assistant Adjutant General-Army for the Nebraska National Guard in Lincoln, Nebraska.