Jamaica-born US Marine Lorna Mahlock creates history with new appointment
/ Our Today
administratorFirst-ever Black female two-star general
Marine Corps Times is reporting that Jamaica-born Lorna Mahlock will create history, becoming the first Black woman to serve as a two-star general in the service.
United States President Joe Biden appointed Brigadier General Mahlock to the rank of major general, the Pentagon announced on December 6, and the Senate confirmed her last Thursday. Mahlock is the deputy director of cybersecurity for combat support at the National Security Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Mahlock immigrated to Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 17 in 1985, according to a biography written by Marquette University. She enlisted in the Marine Corps three months later and became an air traffic controller.
Mahlock’s Marine Corp history
According to a biography by the Women Marines Association, Mahlock received her commission through the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Education Program in December 1991 after graduating from Marquette. She has amassed multiple higher degrees, including two master’s degrees in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College and the Naval Postgraduate School.
Lorna Mahlock was nominated to the grade of brigadier general in 2018, and she became the first Black woman to achieve that rank. She has since served as the Marine Corps’ chief information officer and director of command, control, communications, and computers.
One of the smallest military branches, the Marine Corps has the lowest percentage of women among its troops at nine per cent. Only three women in the corps’ history have picked up the rank of lieutenant general, and all of them are retired.
General Michael Langley, now head of US Africa Command, in August became the first Black Marine four-star general.
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