This year’s ‘89ers Celebration theme is “Women of the Military.” The 2021 Parade marshal is retired Brig. Gen. Theresa M. Casey.
Casey served 27 active years in the Air Force, from which she retired in Dec. 2009. She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal and Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon with Bronze Star.
Currently, Casey serves as the Director, Trainee Health Surveillance, at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, working with health protection and human performance enhancement initiatives and issues for over 80,000 basic military trainees and technical and international students trained annually at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
Casey began her career as a public health officer in 1982. She has held faculty positions at the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, where her responsibilities included classroom instruction, career development course publication and faculty enhancement programs. She served at two major command headquarters and was the surgeon for Joint Task Force Shining Hope. The general has commanded a squadron, an air expeditionary group and two medical groups.
The Guthrie High School graduate was one of three DoD medical staff initially deployed to Zaire, now the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, for the Rwandan refugee crisis response during the First Congo War and was the lead medical officer for Joint Task Force Shining Hope, the DoD humanitarian assistance mission for Kosovo’s Albanian refugees. She was also deployed to Morocco for NASA space shuttle launch support. The general has commanded an air expeditionary group in Cameroon, Africa, and two Air Force hospitals. In her final assignment, she served as the Assistant Surgeon General for Modernization, overseeing Air Force medical contracting, research and information management. She also coordinated the career management and policy for over 2,200 allied health officers as the Chief, Biomedical Sciences Corps.
Other achievements include the 1987 and 1990 Who’s Who in Veterinary Science and Medicine; 1994 Outstanding Woman of the Year, Ramstein Air Base, Germany; 1994 Volunteer of the Year, Ramstein AB, Germany; 2009 Association of Military Surgeons of the United States James McCallam Award for Veterinary Medicine; and 2011 Outstanding Alumnus, Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Science.