Brigadier General Sherian Cadoria
(1943 — Present)
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Brigadier General Sherian Cadoria |
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Sherian Grace Cadoria was born in Marksville, Louisiana, on January 26, 1943. She credits her mother as a role model and credits her as her first real sergeant. Her mother's strict discipline made military life feel like home to her. |
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BGen. Sherian Cadoria was a trailblazer in the military for both women and African-Americans. Photo courtesy of BGen. Sherian Cadoria.
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Cadoria attended Southern University in Baton Rouge and was selected by the Women's Army Corps to represent the university at the College Junior Program during her junior year. She spent four weeks at Fort McClellan in the summer of 1960, experiencing firsthand the life of an enlisted soldier. Following completion of her studies at Southern, she received her commission and entered the Women's Army Corps.
Cadoria saw duty in Vietnam from January of 1967 to October of 1969 while assigned to the Office of the U.S. Army Vietnam Provost Marshall and to Qui Nhon Support Command. During these assignments, she was awarded three Bronze Stars and also an Air Medal for meritorious service at Cam Ranh Bay. Transferring to the Military Police Corps in the early 1970s, she served as Commander of the Military Police Training Battalion at Fort McClellan, Alabama. She would later become Commander of the First Region CID (Criminal Investigation) Command. While holding such key assignments, she also worked to earn a Master of Arts degree in Social Work from the University of Oklahoma. |
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To say that her career was that of a pioneer is an understatement. Cadoria was one of the first women to serve as a military police officer. She was the first woman to command an all-male battalion. She was the first woman to lead a criminal investigation brigade. She was also the first woman admitted to the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College. In 1985, she was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and later became the first black female director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Regarding her status as a black female in what was a predominantly white male community, Cadoria states "I've gotten more pressure from being female in a man's world than from being black. I was always a role model. I had responsibility not just for black women but for black men as well. A woman today has to do more than her male counterpart. I came in knowing I was going to have to give 200 percent effort to get 100 percent credit. Most of the time, you don't even get the 100 percent credit."
Cadoria retired in 1990 at the rank of Brigadier General after a distinguished 29-year military career. At the time, she was the highest ranking black woman in the United States armed forces and one of only four female generals in the U.S. Army. She is now president of her own company and serves on numerous community, state, and national boards. She has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Black Business & Professional Women and has received the NAACP's Roy Wilkens Meritorious Service Award and the National Athena Award. On November 11, 2002, she became the first woman and the first African-American inducted into the Louisiana Military Veterans Hall of Honor.
Sherian Cadoria's outstanding career and contributions to the Army, her community, and her state are a reflection of her belief that "the dictionary is the only place where 'success' comes before 'work.'" |
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**Copyright 1997-2006 by Louisiana Naval War Memorial Commission** |
