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1st woman brigadier general in Illinois guard is retiring

National Guard Bureau
/
Wikimedia Commons

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The first woman to be promoted to brigadier general in the Illinois National Guard is retiring. 

Alicia Tate-Nadeau made history in 2015 when she became the guard's first woman promoted to brigadier general. 

The Delavan native is retiring after 32 years in the military. 

Tate-Nadeau joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Southwestern Oklahoma State University. She says the school's dean of women encouraged her. 

She served in a variety of military positions around the world. 

She was feted at a Camp Lincoln ceremony last week. She says her most difficult task came early in the Iraq War when she served as National Guard public affairs officer. She says it was a "privilege to serve" the families and military members who served. 

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.