February 27, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 36 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Page H2237]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING MAJOR GENERAL CAROL TIMMONS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Delaware (Ms. Blunt Rochester) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of my 
colleagues, Senator Tom Carper and Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, to 
honor and congratulate Major General Carol Timmons for a lifetime of 
dedicated service to our country.
  After graduating from William Penn High School in 1977, Timmons 
enrolled in college and enlisted in the Delaware National Guard. With a 
childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot, her career in flight 
would begin that very summer on a C-130 airplane in Savannah, Georgia.
  Despite her love of airplanes, Air Force rules prevented women from 
flying combat mission planes like the C-130. Due to these unfair 
regulations, she joined the Army National Guard in 1980 and would learn 
to fly noncombat Army helicopters like the UH-1 Huey.
  Undeterred and committed to her dream, Timmons joined the Air Force 
Reserves, where she flew noncombat support missions. She soon realized 
her dream as Federal laws ended the discriminatory prohibition on women 
flying in combat missions, and during Operation Desert Storm, then-
Captain Timmons would become one of the first women to fly in combat.
  Following that operation, her career would come full circle as she 
rejoined the Delaware National Guard, flying the same C-130s she 
learned to fly on and to operate in the beginning.
  On January 8, 2012, then-Brigadier General Timmons would make history 
by becoming the Delaware Air National Guard's first female commander, 
and again on February 1, 2017, when she was promoted to the rank of 
major general and made Adjutant General of the Delaware National Guard, 
the Governor's chief military adviser, commanding 1,500 soldiers and 
1,100 airmen.
  During her storied 42-year career, she earned a Bronze Star for her 
service in Afghanistan and has flown over 5,200 hours in the cockpit, 
including 400 combat hours during contingencies spanning from 
Operations Desert Shield to Inherent Resolve. She served on the 
National Guard's Joint Diversity Executive Council and the Air Force 
Reserve Policy Committee. She has received numerous honors, including 
induction into the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame and the Delaware 
Women's Hall of Fame.
  By refusing to compromise on her dream, Timmons broke down barriers, 
blazed trails, and inspired women to let nothing stand in their way in 
service to our Nation.
  I join Senator Carper and Senator Coons in thanking Major General 
Carol Timmons for her over four decades of service to our State and our 
country, and we wish her the very best.

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