Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES III • May 9, 2012 Area Colonel Kristin Knapp French, a Glen Rock native and graduate of Glen Rock High School, is currently leading the Third Expeditionary Sustainment Command in Afghanistan. French is the first female to lead in Afghanistan as a commander. While deployed, the 3d ESC will ensure all U.S. and selected Coalition and Afghan Military Forces are supported and sustained throughout the country and will assist in the drawdown of U.S. forces. Kristin Knapp French leads Third ESC in Afghanistan Colonel Kristin Knapp French “Kristin has always given us cause to be proud of her for her unselfish duty to our country, her integrity, her courage, and her concern for her family and the soldiers with whom she serves. To us she shines like the star she so deservedly will be putting on her shoulder,” said French’s mother, Carol Knapp of Glen Rock. When French was a lieutenant colonel, she served as commander of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Fort Carson, Colorado: a battalion support squadron known as the Muleskinners. She deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom at the same time her husband, Lt. Col. Rick French deployed his field artillery battalion, 4ID, Fort Hood, Texas to Iraq. French was one of the first female commanders in Iraq, and she and her husband were one of the few couples commanding in Iraq at the same time. Her husband is now retired from the military and is responsible for their two children, Katherine, 11, and Ryan, 14, while French is serving in Afghanistan. The family resides in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where French took Command of the 3d ESC in June 2011. After her graduation from Glen Rock High School, French attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A U.S. Army website reports that French was military advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Logistics and Materiel Readiness at the Pentagon. She is the third female to lead the 3d ESC, with the first being Brig. Gen. Rebecca S. Halstead and the second being Brig. Gen. Akin. French also served as commander of the 406th Army Field Support Brigade and as executive officer for the Defense Logistics Agency. She completed the Quartermaster Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Logistics Executive Development Course, Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Army War College. She has earned the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal and Meritorious Service Medal.