Tracey Poirier NU ’96 makes history by becoming the Vermont Army National Guard’s first female Brigadier General

In a ceremony held at Camp Johnson in Colchester, VT on July 26, 2023, Norwich University alumna Tracey Poirier made history when she was officially promoted as the Vermont Army National Guard’s (VANG) first female brigadier general.

BG Poirier serves the VANG as its director of joint staff where she leads 25 Army and air staff as well as serves as an advisor to the adjutant general.

Serving her country proudly for the past 26 years, BG Poirier enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1991. A member of the Norwich University class of 1996 and the university’s first Rhodes Scholar, BG Poirier went on to earn two master’s degrees from Oxford University before joining the U.S. Marines, serving active duty for eight years before returning to the VANG. During her tenure with the VANG, BG Poirier has been deployed twice to Iraq.

In 2021, the Vermont Army National Guard became the first state in the country to meet the requirement to allow women to serve in every job in the military, including combat arms positions.

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About Norwich University
Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu