Retired Lt. Col. Borah Van Dormolen addressed members of the U.S. Army Operational Test Command ahead of Women's Equality Day last week.

The program celebrated women's right to vote, which Van Dormolen called one of the basic ideas any soldier enlists in the Army to defend.

"(We) support the Constitution, which has been a document of simple ideas that made this county exceptional," she said. "With this document, everything that is wrong about America has been fixed by what is right about America."

Van Dormolen, who lives in Salado, visited the command Aug. 23. National Women's Equality Day was Friday.

The Constitution is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, she said, which "is the genesis of the civil rights movement, and also (it's) the genesis of women's right to vote."

Van Dormolen, 59, enlisted in the Army in 1974. She was commissioned in 1976 by the Women's Army Corps with a branch detail in the Signal Corps.

In 1990, she transferred to the Quartermaster Corps.

Her military career included stints as a professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and chief logistics officers for both the 1st Cavalry Division and 13th Sustainment Command.

After leaving the Army in 1997, Van Dormolen served as the vice president of the Texas Council of Chapters of the Military Officers Association of America and president of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.

She currently serves as Republican National Committeewoman for Texas.

Women's right to vote, gained in 1920 with the 19th Amendment, helped women gain a place in combat, Van Dormolen said.

The demands of World War II on a previously all-male military kicked open the door, she said.

"The idea of women wearing helmets, crawling around in mud and barking commands" was an "idiotic image that became a plausible plan," she said. The Army's goal was to add 25,000 women at the time, but 139,000 enlisted.

About 14 percent of all U.S. personnel today are female, according to the Army.

Following her enlistment, Van Dormolen said she was the first female accepted to West Point.

Thanks to those who came before her, she said, "all I had to do was be a good officer."

Headquarters and Headquarters Company commander Capt. Vicki Stauffer said she enjoyed hearing Van Dormolen's stories.

"It kind of reminds you that people haven't had it so easy, and not to take everything for granted," she said.

The Operational Test Command is led by Col. Laura Richardson, its first female commander, who was out of town during the event.

Jim Amato, executive director, said celebrating diversity is a regular and integral practice for the joint military-civilian command, which tests military equipment in labs and in combat before the Defense Department buys it for wide use.

"We celebrate all (kinds of) diversity on a monthly basis," he said. "Everyone brings something different to the table."