General Excellence
Achieving the rank of brigadier general is a high honor for any soldier. But Paula C. Lodi’s recent promotion to the position marked a special milestone: she and her older sister, Major General Maria Barrett, are the first sisters ever to serve as generals in the U.S. Army.
An ROTC scholarship led Lodi CC’90 to her first assignment as a platoon leader in Germany, following graduation. “ROTC takes you way outside your comfort zone [and helps you] make sure you’re committed,” she says. Today, Lodi is the deputy chief of staff for operations in the Army Surgeon General’s office, where she brings her expertise in health care planning and operations to bear on issues ranging from the medical needs of soldiers on the battlefield to humanitarian crises.