Brig. Gen. Doornink to Commission 21 Students at Commencement

PULLMAN, Wash. — U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Barbara Doornink will commission
21 Washington State University students from its Reserve Officers’ Training
Corps programs as military officers at commencement on May 6.

Doornink, commander of the Defense Distribution Center at New Cumberland,
Pa., and a 1973 political science graduate of WSU, was invited to administer
the Commissioning Oath of Office by the university’s department of military
science as part of its role of sponsoring this year’s commissioning ceremony at
commencement.

Commencement in Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum includes three
ceremonies. Commissioning takes place during the college of liberal arts’
ceremony, which starts at 8 a.m.

Founded in 1890 under the 1862 Morrill Land-Grant Act, the university has
offered military instruction with the Army’s department of military science
since its first year of classes. In addition to Army ROTC, WSU has Navy and
Air Force ROTC programs. WSU graduating men and women who are Army
and Air Force cadets and Navy midshipmen will be commissioned as Army and
Air Force second lieutenants and Navy ensigns. They will fulfill their military
obligation by serving three-four years in their respective service.

Doornink, a Prosser native, attended WSU after graduating from Pullman High
School. While at WSU, she was a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and
served on the Panhellenic Council. A May Queen finalist, she was also active
in intramural sports. She worked on a congressional campaign and as a state
legislature intern. She was a member of Spurs, a sophomore women’s service
honorary. As a senior, she was president of Mortar Board, a senior scholastic
and service honorary.

Doornink assumed command of the Defense Distribution Center in the summer
of 1998. The center provides defense materiel for all branches of the U.S.
Armed Forces from supply facilities in this country and around the world.

Previously, Doornink served as vice director of Logistics and Security
Assistance, where she spent six months as deputy commanding general,
Stabilization Force Support Command, Zagreb, Croatia. Prior to that, she was
chief of joint logistics operations in the U.S. European Command Headquarters
in Stuttgart, Germany.

Her initial Army assignment was as a platoon leader for the 104th
Transportation Company (Medium Truck) at Fort Devens, Mass. The general’s
military background has included assignments or commands at the U.S.
Military Academy; teaching in the department of military instruction; Seoul,
Korea; Fort Eustis, Va.; Fort Lewis, Wash.; Kaiserslautern, Germany; and Fort
Bragg, N. C.

She earned a master’s degree in information systems management from the
University of Southern California and is a graduate of the Transportation
Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Combined Arms and Services Staff
School, the Command and General Staff College and the Industrial College of
the Armed Forces.

Her military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of
Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, five Meritorious Service
Medals, two Army Commendation Medals, three Army Achievement Medals,
the Parachutist Badge and the British Parachutist Badge.

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Brig. Gen. Barbara Doornink

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