First Female Veteran, Joni Ernst, Sworn into U.S. Senate

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, a member of Stanton American Legion Post 407, was the first female veteran to be elected to the U.S. Senate. A former Lieutenant Colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard, she has been a frequent speaker at the American Legion Auxiliary Iowa Girls State.

 LTC Ernst served as logistics officer and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Iowa National Guard. Near the end of her career, she served as the commanding officer of the 185th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion at Camp Dodge, the largest battalion in the Iowa Army National Guard. Upon her retirement from the military in 2015, Ernst had served 23 years between the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. She spent 12 months in Kuwait in 2003–04 as the company commander of the 1168th Transportation Company during the Iraq War.

She is the first woman elected to represent Iowa in either House of Congress.