The Army Chaplain Corps is richer and more effective with women in the ranks, and this July we celebrate 50 years of sacred service by women chaplains in the U.S. Army.
Alice M. Henderson became the first woman to serve officially as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps when she was commissioned during a ceremony at Fort McPherson, Georgia, on July 8, 1974. Henderson was also the first woman of color to serve as a chaplain in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. In 2019, she was inducted into the U.S. Army Women’s Foundation Hall of Fame.
Dianna Pohlman Bell had previously become the first official woman chaplain in our nation’s military services when she was commissioned in the Navy in 1973. But our Army Chaplain Corps women’s history goes back to the Civil War.
It was 1864 when Elvira “Ella” Gibson became the first woman to serve as a U.S. military chaplain, after the members of the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment elected her to serve them in that capacity. Sadly, her ministry went unrecognized by the Secretary of War at the time, who did not acknowledge Gibson’s status. It took until 2002 for Congress to grant Gibson the rank of captain.
Since 1974, women Army chaplains have been endorsed by a variety of faith groups, including the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, and Muslim traditions. These chaplains have achieved many firsts, not only in the Army but across the U.S. Armed Forces. Bonnie Koppell became the first woman rabbi chaplain in the U.S. military in 1981, while serving in the U.S. Army Reserve. Pratima Dharm became the first Hindu chaplain in the U.S. military in 2011. And Khady Ndiaye just became the Army’s first woman Muslim chaplain candidate in June 2024, not long after the Air Force commissioned the U.S. military’s first woman Muslim chaplain in 2021.
These women trailblazers and others like them have led the way for other women into positions of influence in the Army Chaplain Corps. This includes women trailblazers who have served in the Chaplain Corps alongside chaplains as chaplain assistants and now as religious affairs specialists.
It was 1972 when Specialist Lorraine Doleshal became the first woman to be school trained as a chaplain assistant. Thirty-three years later, Bridgette Smith became the first woman to serve as a command sergeant major in the Chaplain Corps, at the U.S. Army Chaplain Center and School. Today, Meaghan Bicklein Simmons is serving with tremendous positive impact as the Corps’ 11th regimental sergeant major, since becoming the first woman to fill that role in 2023.
Significant firsts for women Army chaplains have been accumulating since Henderson became the first woman to serve officially as an Army chaplain in 1974. In 1993, Chaplain Janet Horton became the first woman to serve as a division chaplain. Chaplain Horton also made history with Master Sergeant Iraida Velazquez, by forming the Army’s first all-woman division chaplain section. Chaplain Horton later became the first woman chaplain the Army promoted to colonel, in 1997, and then the first woman to serve as an Army chaplain at the corps level. Another milestone occurred in 2002, when Chaplain Geraldine Manning became the first woman chaplain in the Army Reserve - and the first woman chaplain of color in any Army component - to be promoted to colonel. Also of note is Chaplain Barbara Sherer's service starting in 2011 as the first woman deputy commandant of the United States Army Chaplain Center and School, before she also became the first woman to serve as the United States Military Academy chaplain in 2012.
More recently, in 2020, Chaplain Monica Lawson was the first woman of color to be promoted to colonel in the Chaplain Corps' Active Component. In 2021, Chaplain Pinkie Fischer, who is now a Colonel, became the first woman to serve as the 82nd Airborne Division chaplain. In October 2022, two National Guard chaplains made history simultaneously by becoming the first women to serve as state chaplains in their states and in the country. Chaplain (Colonel) Martha Kester is now continuing to serve in that capacity with the Iowa National Guard, while Chaplain (Colonel) Heather Simon is continuing to serve in that capacity with the New Jersey National Guard. In another current first, Chaplain (Colonel) Karen Meeker is now serving U.S. Africa Command since 2023 as the Army’s first woman combatant command chaplain, after also being the first woman chaplain to serve in Special Operations Command beginning in 2001.
These are just a few of the Army Chaplain Corps firsts for women, and, like all the firsts along the way to diversity, equity, and inclusion, one can argue that they should have come sooner. Chaplain Corps recruiters are continuing to work diligently every day to increase the number of women in the ranks, while today’s women chaplains continue to blaze a trail for others while they partner with their Chaplain Corps colleagues in caring for the Army Family.
Women and men who would like to find out more about serving as Army chaplains can get more information at GOARMY.COM/CHAPLAIN and NATIONALGUARD.COM/CHAPLAIN.
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