A new commander for the state’s largest infantry reserve division is a big story. The fact that the new commander is a woman (for the first) makes it even bigger. And the fact that the woman will be the first female infantry division commander in history makes it really big. At the end of this month, Brigadier General Laura Yeager will become the new commander of the 40th Infantry Division which is stationed at the Joint Forces base at Los Alamitos and the OC Register accordingly has a big story on its front page.
U.S. Army poster helped push Fountain Valley woman to be 1st female to lead an Army Infantry Division
Laura Yeager was a student at UC Irvine, running out of money, when she saw a U.S. Army poster on a bulletin board in a hallway advertising $100 monthly stipends and a possibility for scholarships. The ROTC program wasn’t available at the school in 1983, so Yeager, then a freshman, transferred to Cal State Long Beach.
