Retired Colonel Jill Morgenthaler is a woman of many firsts. She was one of the first women to train as an equal with men in college ROTC. She was the first woman battalion commander in the 88th Regional Support Command; she was the first woman brigade commander in the 84th Division; and she was the first woman Homeland Security Advisor for the State of Illinois. Colonel Morgenthaler handled disaster recovery during the San Francisco earthquake in 1989, worked as a peacekeeper in Bosnia, and conducted evacuation operations for Kosovar refugees. For her leadership performance in Iraq in 2004, she received the Bronze Star. For her thirty years of extraordinary service, the Army awarded her the Legion of Merit.