Pat Foote


Evelyn Patricia Foote is a retired US Army brigadier general. She served from 1959 to 1989, rising to the rank of brigadier general in 1986, and holds many firsts for women in the U.S. Army.

Early life and education

Brigadier General Pat Foote was born in Durham, North Carolina, on May 19, 1930. Her parents, Evelyn Sidena Womack Foote and Henry Alexander Foote senior, both worked for the American Tobacco Company while Foote was a child. In 1945, the Foote family moved to Washington, D.C., and Pat Foote graduated from Central High School in 1947. She attended Wake Forest University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology in 1953. Foote also holds a Masters of Science degree in Public Administration and Government from Shippensburg University, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Wake Forest University. She is also a 1980 graduate of the Executive Program of the University of Virginia and a 1985 graduate of the Center for Creative Leadership. Her military education includes completion of the Women's Army Corps Officer Basic Course, the Adjutant General Corps Officer Advanced Course, the United States Army Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College.

Command and staff positions

Foote held a variety of command and staff positions culminating in her assignment as Commanding General of Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Immediately prior, she was Deputy Inspector General, Department of the Army. Other key assignments include command of the 2d Basic Training Battalion, United States Army Military Police School and Training Center, Fort McClellan, Alabama; service as Director of Personnel Management Systems, Department of Command and Management, the United States Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and Commander, 42d Military Police Group, United States Army, Europe and Seventh Army.

Key assignments

In other key assignments, General Foote served with the Information Office at Headquarters, United States Army, Vietnam in 1967 and upon return to the United States, assumed the duties of Executive Officer, Women's Army Corps Branch with the Officer Personnel Directorate, Office of Personnel Operations. She was the Plans and Programs Officer with the Office of the Director, Women's Army Corps, during the transition to the all-volunteer force and the early years of the greatly increased utilization of women within the Army. Following this, she served as the final WAC Staff Adviser to the Commanding General of the United States Army Forces Command and as Executive Officer of that command's Human Resources Directorate.

Achievements, awards and decorations

General Foote had many notable achievements during her career. She was the first female public relations officer in Vietnam in 1967 and the first female faculty member appointed to the U.S. Army War School in 1979. General Foote was also the first female brigade commander in Europe and the first female Inspector General in the Army in 1986. When Foote was promoted to Brigadier General in 1986, she became one of only four female generals in the U.S. Army. She was also the first female commander of Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
General Foote's awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal and the Army General Staff Identification Badge. The German government awarded her the Bundesverdienstkreuz, Erste Klasse, for her service as Command of the 42 Military Police Group, 1983-85.

1st retirement and recall

General Foote retired from active duty on September 1, 1989. In December 1996, she was recalled to active duty to serve as Vice Chair of the Secretary of the Army's Senior Review Panel on Sexual Harassment.

2nd retirement activity

On October 1, 1997, General Foote returned to retired status and served as a Consultant to the Office of the Secretary of the Army through July 1998, briefing military leaders and various organizations concerning the Senior Review Panel's report, its findings and its recommendations.
From 1998 to 2007, she served as president of the Alliance for National Defense, a non-profit organization that supports women in the military. She remains an active spokesperson for the Army and other organizations concerning the role of women in the military services.

Primary sources