Cross country alumna continues trailblazing career in U.S. Marine Corps
By: Eric Detweiler, GW Athletics Communications
Over more than two decades of military service, Colonel Lauren Edwards has taken part in promotion ceremonies around the globe, officially moving up the U.S. Marine Corps ranks while stationed in Japan, Arizona, California and North Carolina.
That history made the festivities on April 10 at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., all the more special for the GW cross country alumna.
Surrounded by a small group of family with many more supporters watching virtually, Edwards took part in a military frocking that will allow her to take on the responsibilities of a Colonel in advance of her soon moving into a new post as commanding officer of a logistics regiment at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune.
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Edwards is set for the next step in her trailblazing military career.Â
The frocking ceremony provided a chance for reflection on a trail-blazing career come full circle: It was meaningful that it took place in the same spot where in 1998 she was promoted to 2nd lieutenant shortly after graduation from Officer Candidate School and just across the Potomac River from the university where her passion for service took root while a member of the Buff and Blue.
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"I feel very blessed," said Edwards, a 1998 graduate of the GW School of Media & Public Affairs. "Like all service, the journey has had its ups and downs, and there are sacrifices but there are also benefits.
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"I'm just very grateful that I have a very supportive family and a very supportive church who's always keeping me in their prayers, and the people I'm closest to understand the transient nature of the job and never let me get too far away whether virtually or otherwise."
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A veteran of tours abroad in Iraq, Afghanistan and Japan, Edwards has distinguished herself at every rank along the way.
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In 2015, she made Marine Corps history as the first female commander of an engineer support battalion when she took leadership of the 8th ESB at Camp Lejeune.
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The Kentucky native relocated to the D.C. area in 2017 to continue her studies at the National War College before taking on a role in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon a year later.
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Most recently, Edwards has been working at Headquarters Marine Corps in the Programs & Resources division before a board selected her as the new commander of the Marine Corps' Combat Logistics Regiment-27. When she starts in June, she'll be the first woman to command this regiment whose mission is to provide wide-ranging logistical support for the Marine Logistics Group and the various Marine Expeditionary Units at Camp Lejeune.
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"It's incredibly exciting because it's a really tough cut, and the peer group that I'm in is filled with a crew of talented Marines. So to make that cut, well, it's a little bit overwhelming," Edwards said.
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Ultimately, Edwards has kept going in her military career because she's still passionate about the mission. As she's continued progressing through the ranks, she's become increasingly appreciative of the opportunity to provide a blueprint for others to follow in the same way that other high-ranking women have inspired her.
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"In my organization or for people who are thinking about this type of service, I have to be a role model," Edwards said. "We don't have a lot of women in the Marine Corps. The women we have are amazing and they're qualified and they're strong and all of those things, but if young women can't see themselves within the organization, then they're probably not going to join the organization."
Edwards poses with her family at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial on April 10.
Edwards traces that journey back to GW, where she was a standout harrier whose sixth-place finish at the 1995 A-10 Championships was best in program history to that point.
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On runs through the bustling streets of the nation's capital, she had plenty of time to contemplate her future on the way to finding her purpose.
"Coming to GW was just a really big window into a bigger world," said Edwards, who was also an A-10 All-Academic honoree for her exemplary work in the classroom. "It was an amazing experience for me because it opened opportunities that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere else. It wasn't just that textbook education. It was the life education that you get at GW that was really foundational."
Those wonderful memories explain why Edwards has taken such delight in the chance to pay it forward through a stint on the GW Athletics Advisory Council and personal relationships with the next generation of Buff and Blue alumni-turned-Marines like Katie Bishop (XC/track) and Riley (Tejcek) Compton (softball).
Twenty-three years later, many of those scenes were fresh on her mind during the frocking ceremony just a few miles away from Foggy Bottom as she celebrated the next step in her momentous career.
"I'm pretty excited," Edwards said. "It's been a great learning experience to be on staff in the Pentagon, and I've learned a phenomenal amount about national security while getting to use that National War College degree, but it's also going to be nice to go back down to that tactical level and just be right there with Marines again."
