Mary Lynch Westmoreland is 31.5 year military veteran serving from 1976~2008. Her first service was as an enlisted member of the US Coast Guard /Coast Guard Reserves and later transferred to the Army and received a commission as a Reserve officer. During this interview, Mary reflects on her early years entering the military, her determination to successfully combine her roles as a wife and mother while complementing her initial civilian career in community service organizations, college administration and later as operations director for an educational research and development organization, before entering full time military service with the Army. Her 21 active duty years and ten Reserve years culminated with her retirement from the Pentagon in 2008 in the rank of colonel and from the position of director of HR Solutions, the Headquarters Department of the Army global service contract management organization, and model re~engineering initiative. Colonel Westmoreland’s distinguished military career recognition included two Legions of Merit Medal and a Bronze Star Medal.

Today, (Ret.) Colonel Westmoreland is a strong legislative advocate for veterans issues, with particular focus on improving healthcare access for returning service women in the Metro-NYC and Lower Hudson Valley. She was appointed in September 2012 to the Women’s Advisory Council under US Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Secretary Shinsecki in Washington DC. Locally she remains fully engaged in community volunteer programs such as her Bronxville Women’s Club, League of Women Voters, and is also a proud active member of various veterans organizations, and member of the Board of Directors for the Navy League NYC.

A Pace University graduate, she holds graduate degrees from at Duquesne University, State University at Stony Brook and post-graduate professional studies at the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA.

Mary was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. She resides with her husband Gene Westmoreland a native of Westchester, in Bronxville. She is the mother of son Chris and daughter Eileen, both of whom were deployed by the Army during the past decade of operations, and the proud grandmother of Mychal, a college Junior.