After a twenty-eight year career in the US Army, culminating in rank of Sergeant Major, Launa K. Brown comes into the civilian realm with extensive experience in leadership training as well as operational planning. Her strong leadership combined with independent thinking and sound judgment fueled a long and successful career that includes many high profile assignments.

Serving as a recruiter for seven years, Launa enlisted hundreds of young adults from the local region into the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Her recruits wanted to better their position in life, selflessly serve their state and make themselves more responsible and mature adults.

Due to her success and caring attitude as a recruiter, she was promoted to sergeant first class and selected to serve at the federal level for the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C. She was further asked to become an instructor at the Recruiting and Retention School in Little Rock, Ark.

In her instructor capacity, she was selected above her peers to be the first senior small group instructor for the first Noncommissioned Officer Education System within the Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention force. She went on to be the first sergeant and deputy commandant of the Noncommissioned Officers Academy at the Professional Education Center at Camp Robinson in Little Rock, Ark.

Upon completion of this assignment, she went on to serve in Germany as an overseas deployment coordinator and later as the only National Guard liaison at the Combat Maneuver Training Center in Hohenfels, Germany, where thousands of soldiers from multiple states conduct their annual certification training.

In 2002, Launa was assigned as the sole National Guard liaison to the Army’s Ordnance School at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., where she was instrumental in planning and executing the training for newly recruited and mobilizing Army National Guard soldiers who would eventually serve on active duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

On short notice, she deployed to Kuwait to serve as the National Guard Retention Sergeant Major within the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Theater of Operations. While in Kuwait, initially assigned under Coalition Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC), she traveled extensively throughout the combat zone and subsequently developed a successful retention program and instituted the systems that are still currently being utilized throughout that area of operation, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

In her final assignment, she also served as the first senior enlisted adviser for National Guard Affairs to the Commander, Third U.S. Army. In this position, she excelled in coordinating operational level matters to include the visits of governors, state congressional representatives, and other diplomats into countries, ranging from the Horn of Africa to Central Asia, with ongoing combat operations and state partnership programs. She also aided in further developing the noncommissioned officer corps and the role of women serving in armies such as Jordan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. She also helped shape the existing plans and policy guidance for all mobilizing soldiers by serving on the Congressional Committee for Deployment Cycle Support and Combat Readiness Center Recertification.

Throughout her career, she delivered the utmost professional service to her state and nation. Her commitment and efforts exemplify selfless service and the innate leadership resident in her personal character.