Col. Tamhra Hutchins-Frye recently received a promotion to Brigadier General in the Arkansas Air National Guard, the first woman to obtain this rank in the Arkansas Air National Guard.

Read the story published in the Times Record.

I was proud to recognize her accomplishment in the Congressional Record, the official proceedings of Congress, with the following statement: 

Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Tamhra Hutchins-Frye on her recent promotion to Brigadier General in the Arkansas Air National Guard.

Brigadier General Hutchins-Frye was born in Bakersfield, California and entered the Air National Guard in November 1984 as an Airman First Class. She received her commission in August 1989 through the Academy of Military Science in Knoxville, Tennessee and has held various assignments in the 188^th Fighter Wing in Fort Smith, Arkansas, the 189^th Airlift Wing at the Little Rock Air Force Base, and Arkansas Air National Guard and Joint Force Headquarters at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock.

She was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as the Chief of Staff of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Afghanistan Transformation Task Force and then the Headquarters International Security Assistance Force where she helped lead the transformation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as it transitioned to self-rule.

Tamhra earned a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Arkansas Tech University in 1983 and a Master of Arts in Human Resource Management from Webster University in 2012.  She has also completed numerous trainings and programs during her time in the Air National Guard. 

As a dedicated member of the Air National Guard, Hutchins-Frye has been awarded the Legion of Merit and a Bronze Star. She is also an active member of her community and takes a proactive role in giving back and investing in the lives of others as displayed by her roles as Co-Chairman of the Women’s Foundation of Arkansas’s Girls of Promise and as a member of the Board of Directors of Heart of Arkansas United Way, among other types of service.

Mr. President, it is also important to note that Brigadier General Hutchins-Frye is the first woman to obtain this rank in the Arkansas Air National Guard. By virtue of this latest achievement in her impressive and distinguished career, she serves as role model for many, including the young women in our Armed Forces, of how hard work and professionalism can lead to historic and ground-breaking achievements.

I offer my sincere congratulations to Brigadier General Tamhra Hutchins-Frye on this momentous occasion and I applaud her continued commitment and dedication to our nation’s readiness. I know she will continue to make Arkansas proud in this new chapter of her career.