Brigadier General Tammy Smith spoke at today’s ROTC commissioning at the University of Oregon, a ceremony where cadets graduate and are sworn in as members of the U.S. military. Smith was the first openly gay general in the military following the repeal of “Don’t ask don’t tell.” A UO grad herself from the class of 1986, Smith relayed her experiences to a crowd in a standing-room-only event.

She sat down with The Emerald yesterday and spoke about her experiences as an openly gay military member and her aspirations for the class of 2013. 

Being from Oregon, how has it affected your experience with the Army?

I grew up in Oakland, Oregon, then I came the UO. I just think there’s something about being an Oregonian that we’re kind of a “live and let live” type of people, and I really think what that means is that you come into the world being civic-minded because we’re collaborative. We get along with our neighbors. We have a real sense of community.

When I ended up in the Army, carrying what I consider to be my Oregonian values and the things I’ve learned from the UO, really contributed to my just being able to get along so well with people. And that’s a lot about what leadership is: finding a way to get along with the group of people you’re working with and finding a way to motivate them to come together and collaborate to achieve whatever that goal might be.

So, would you say that community feeling is a main reason UO has so many generals from the UO? 

We probably can’t prove that scientifically (laughs). But I would have to say that is a contributing factor. When you think about the military, we think of ourselves as a values-based organization, so we this set of foundational values that we aspire to live our life by every day and those values align real well with the sense of community that we are talking about here.

You must be excited to talk at the commissioning.

From my start in the military in 1986, to come around and participate in the rehearsal for the ROTC commissioning and just to see them young, fit, enthusiastic about what they’re about to do — it really brought me full circle. It also made me appreciate what a good solid foundation I had before I started my career in the Army. It was just a nice feeling to come back.

What unique problems and opportunities do these grads have that you might have not had?

It’s a different world from 1986. For one thing, in 1986 we weren’t at war. Now each one of these officers will be going into units that may or not be going onto the deployment list for our continuing engagement in Afghanistan. There is still potential that they may be deployed to a combat zone. We hadn’t even ended the Cold War when I got my commissioning.

They will also be entering the Army in a time when we are tightening our belts fiscally. They will be going through sequestration and the reduction of the military budget. It’s both good and bad. The good thing is they are entering at a time where they are starting to make these changes in our budget. These graduates won’t know any different. We’ve taught them how to be adaptive and flexible. We are sending them in with the skills to make that adjustment as the army itself works out how its going to move forward fiscally.

Could you talk about your experience before the repeal of  “Don’t ask don’t tell,” being the first openly gay brigadier general?

It was like lifting a weight off my shoulders, because under “don’t ask don’t tell” it wasn’t a matter of if someone found that you were gay you might be fired or you might have a hard time at work the law mandated that you must be fired. And so it put a lot of stress on you in your life.

I was married in March 2012 after the repeal, but Tracy and I have been together since 2004. It was a great deal of stress on her as a member of the family because she, too, had to be closeted and live in silence and not call attention to what our relationship was.

It’s really a great sense of relief, not only for myself but for any soldier that may be serving or maybe thinking about serving and maybe didn’t want to hide part of themselves. I’m just so pleased that there will be future generations that have the opportunities to serve if they choose to.

What do you hope cadets will take from your experience?

What I hope is that if people view me as an example, that they view me as solid military leader. I would like to be thought of as a military officer who happens to be gay, not as a gay person who happens to be I the military.

I would like people to look at me as an example by how I live my life, so I want to lead my soldiers. I want to do all the right things for the Army and I want to have a good solid relationship with whoever that is. That is the example I hope I am setting for the people that know my story.