This Veterans Day will be the first time in three decades that retired Brig. Gen. Michelle Letcher ’95, who first answered the call to serve and defend the nation as an undergraduate at Illinois State University, is living the civilian life again.
Known as Michelle Tomal in her days on campus, Letcher graduated from Illinois State with a bachelor’s degree in social work, the perfect major for a leader, she said.
“Social work was a great degree because leadership is about serving others and helping people,” Letcher said, which, she added, defined much of her Army career.
Letcher didn’t waste any time getting started. In fact, it was at orientation that she quickly found her path to the military via the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), but the groundwork had been laid years before.
Back in her hometown of Oak Forest, she was active in speech and debate in junior high. Her father, Joseph Tomal, a Vietnam veteran, suggested her eighth-grade speech be about POWs. During that time, he also brought her to meet members of the local Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) chapter.
“They took me under their wing and took me to rallies, and through that experience, I felt the brotherhood and sisterhood,” Letcher said. “At ISU, I saw the ROTC table at orientation and went from there. It felt like home to me, especially the value set and the selfless service.”
In August, after a combined 30 years of service in the Army Reserves, the Army National Guard, active duty, and ROTC at Illinois State, she retired. She and her husband, Ken, who retired last year as an Army colonel, live in Austin, Texas.
The Letchers met at an Army training exercise at Fort Johnson, Louisiana.
“He actually liked my friend,” she said, laughing. “She and I are still good friends. I tell her thanks for saying no.”
The family’s tradition of service goes back to both sides of the family as Ken grew up in a military family. And it doesn’t end now with retirement. Michelle and Ken’s oldest son, Thomas Allen, is a freshman cadet, a plebe as they are known at military academies, at West Point. Their middle son, Tyler, a high school junior, has already expressed an interest in serving. Their youngest son, Trevor, is in eighth grade.
They’ve been married for 23 years and supported each other’s careers.
“I would say he’s progressive in his thinking,” Letcher said. “He’s just been a great advocate for my service.”
It wasn’t always easy. In a sense, the whole family served. Both did combat tours—three for her and four for her husband. She was deployed twice to Iraq, including as part of the first wave of the first ground invasion in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom, and once to Afghanistan. Her husband’s four combat tours included two each to Iraq and Afghanistan. They were parents during those dangerous times.
“Don’t underestimate how one soldier or a small group of soldiers can make an impact on humanity.”
Brig. Gen. Michelle Letcher ’95
“I tell people that my children have had seven tours,” Letcher said. “But I’ve always had a good family support, so I didn’t’ worry about the home front and wasn’t pulled in that direction when I was deployed. I was busy managing my soldiers. When you’re leading, it’s not just the war aspect but the mental, physical, and financial health of your soldiers.
“We take care of the whole soldier.”
It’s important to note, Letcher said, that her career was multi-faceted beyond war zones.
“When people think about soldiers, they think about war,” she said. “But only three years of my 30 years were in combat. The other 27 were about education and keeping stability and peace in the world. We are called to fight our country’s wars, but we spend the majority of our time trying to prevent wars.
“When I give a commencement speech, I always say, ‘Don’t underestimate how one soldier or a small group of soldiers can make an impact on humanity.’”
Letcher has been stationed around the world and all over the U.S. She’s worked in national security, munitions, logistics, education, and human resources, among other areas. She’s earned a bachelor’s and three master’s degrees.
Her ROTC experience at Illinois State taught her leadership, she said. Everywhere she served afterward, she led. As a company commander, she led 250-plus soldiers. As a battalion commander, she led 1,000 soldiers. As a brigade commander, she led 4,000 soldiers. When she served at Rock Island Arsenal—one of her favorite posts—she had 15,000 soldiers and civilians under her command working at depots across the country.
“Rock Island Arsenal was a really a wonderful duty station,” she said. “But my favorite post was Europe because the mission—which was national and international security—was so important.”
In retirement, she’s pursuing a range of interests. She’s a genealogy/ancestry buff with a particular interest in immigration. She went back to Europe and visited the ancestral village where three of her four great-grandparents came from. She logged 160 miles hiking the Camino de Santiago choosing a route from Portugal to Spain. She’s a runner, a painter, and is working on a book about her grandmother.
“I’m exploring my passions to find out what’s next, and there will be a ‘what’s next,’” she said.
In 2019, she was honored to throw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Cubs game, surrounded by her family.
“My grandparents came over from Poland and became baseball fans, Cubs fans, to assimilate to American culture,” she said. “I wore my full-dress uniform, skirt and heels, and I got it over the plate for a strike.”
She remains proud of the life she chose as a professional soldier calling the military “one of the only organizations that can plug-and-play.” When COVID happened, the country turned to the military; when disasters happen, people turn to the military, she said.
Her advice for anyone considering a military career is simple: “Do it.”
“If you want to be a doctor or a lawyer, the Army has a path for you to be anything in the world,” Letcher said. “The opportunities are unmatched. I have never met anybody who regretted their military service.
“All walks of life join the Army, and not everyone starts at the same point. I consider it an honor to have served alongside them and to call them teammates, family, and friends.”
Illinois State University will hold its annual Veterans Day Ceremony at noon Friday, November 10, in the Old Main Room of the Bone Student Center.
