Successful Women Beyond the Military
Meet Col. Jo Rusin, U.S. Army (Ret)
Author, Motivator, and Brigade Commander
In 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, University of Kentucky graduate Jo Rusin started out as a WAC Second Lieutenant and years later became the Army's most senior woman commander in the Gulf War.
Col. Rusin commanded a support brigade in the US Army VII Corps in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Kuwait.
With the end of the draft in the early '70s job opportunities for women expanded and Jo was one of the first women in the Army to command men as a company commander at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
She went on to command in the 1st Corps Support Command at Fort Bragg and later became the first woman battalion commander at Fort Benning, the home of the infantry, where she commanded new infantry recruits.
Col. Jo Rusin retired after serving 24 years in the Army and, among other things, became a twice-published author.
She wrote her first book, "Volunteers Wanted: A Practical Guide to Finding and Keeping Good Volunteers," Magnolia Mansions Press, 1999, as a help to volunteers in any situation.Her second book, "Move to the Front," Presidio Press, 2001, is a leadership guide for women based on her military experience. Spiced with over 60 stories and examples of her experience, it is filled with common sense solutions that can be adapted to the public work sector.
Jo Rusin is working on her third book - a sequel to "Move To The Front" and invites senior NCO's and Field Grade Officers to contribute their ideas, experiences and suggestions for the next edition.
Here is her request:Move to the Front: Military Leadership Secrets from a Woman Soldier was written to give women junior officers and noncommissioned officers the skills to thrive as leaders in the male dominated culture of the military.
Move to the Front will give you a head start on learning how to get accepted by men as a player and a leader, keep up on physical training runs, deal with sexual harassment and bullies, and how to get the most from your team. These are just a few of the topics covered in this short easy-to-read book.
Now I am working on a sequel to Move to the Front for women who know the basics, but are facing new challenges as senior noncommissioned officers and field grade officers. Experienced women leaders on active duty today are confronting many pressing issues and I am actively soliciting their input.
If you have ideas on topics you would like to see covered in the sequel to Move to the Front, please contact me at jorusin@jorusin.com.
Move to the Front has been reprinted by Byrrd Enterprises, America's leading distributor of military books for soldiers, and should be available in AAFES Military Clothing Sales Stores in April 2005. If you are a woman soldier or a man who supervises women soldiers, you need this book.
For more information about Jo Rusin please drop by her website - at Jo Rusin Leadership
Stay tuned for more about former military women from the past and the present - women like Congresswoman Heather Wilson; renowned journalist Sarah McClendon; author and nurse, Louisa May Alcott; singer Josephine Baker; Chef Julia Child; Madalyn Murray O'Hair; Senator Margaret Chase Smith and more. - It may take awhile, but I'll get to it eventually.
