Amanda Azubuike has officially become the first Nigerian woman to be promoted to Brigadier General in the United States Army. Azubuike has been in the service for more than 30 years and has held senior advisory, public affairs, and intelligence leadership posts.
She once served as the Chief of Public Affairs for the U.S. Southern Command, the Deputy Commanding Officer at the U.S. Army Cadet Command, and a Senior Military Advisor at the Pentagon.
Azubuike’s mother is from Zimbabwe, and her father is from Nigeria. She was born in London. Her father emigrated to the UK at an early age to pursue law and there, he met her mother, a young nursing student, according to Business Day Nigeria.
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Azubuike’s mother’s divorce and subsequent move to the United States with her two children, Azubuike and her sister, marked the beginning of Azubuike’s military career. In April 1989, she obtained U.S. citizenship.
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Azubuike was fascinated by the military from a young age and when she was 17, she joined the Air Force Junior ROTC, a program that teaches aerospace science and leadership to high school students.
She went on to acquire a communications degree from the University of Central Arkansas in 1993 before joining the United States Army as an aviator in 1994. She completed flight school, became a UH-1 pilot, and was sent to Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia as a platoon leader.
She later became the Flight Operations Officer and then the Platoon Leader for the Aviation Company, Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai, Egypt. She completed the Fixed Wing Multi-Engine Qualification Course and the Military Intelligence Captain’s Career Course before serving as an RC-12 pilot and Operations Officer with the 3rd Military Intelligence Battalion (Aerial Exploitation) in South Korea.
According to Cadet Command, Azubuike was deployed to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, as Commander of Alpha Company, Victory Brigade, following her deployment to South Korea. From July 2005 until June 2006, Azubuike worked as a Public Affairs Operations Officer in the Coalition Forces Land Component Command in Kuwait, following her completion of the Public Affairs Officer Qualification Course.
She graduated from Georgetown University with a Master of Public Relations and Corporate Communications before she was assigned to the Community Outreach Division of the Pentagon’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs.
After graduating from the U.S. Army War College, she was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort
Stewart, Georgia, as the Public Affairs Director, and deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, with the
Division Headquarters.
She oversaw the joint public affairs team supporting the 58th Presidential Inauguration after being promoted to Colonel and sent to the Joint Force Headquarters/Military District of Washington at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., as the Public Affairs Director.
It was from there that she served as the Chief of Public Affairs for the U.S. Southern Command Headquarters in Doral, Florida before serving at the Pentagon as the Chief of Staff and Senior Military Assistant to the Principal Deputy to the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.
She was deployed to Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and Bagram in Afghanistan to support Operations Iraqi Freedom, New Dawn, and Enduring Freedom.
Azubuike holds the Parachutist, Air Assault, and Army Aviator badges.
Among her honors and decorations are the Army Commendation Medal with three Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal with Silver Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and the Joint Service Commendation Medal.
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