CAMP STRIKER, Iraq -- In the shadow of Baghdad, Patricia Anslow, commander of the Arkansas Army National Guard's 875th Engineer Battalion, was promoted to the rank of colonel on Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Michael Silva, commander of the 411th Engineer Brigade, presented Anslow with her new rank at a ceremony just outside of the battalion headquarters on Camp Striker. Command Sgt. Maj. Billy Ward was given the honor of pinning the "full bird" on her patrol cap. Anslow currently commands the 500-man battalion, which is six months into a yearlong deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Anslow began her military career as a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1989. The 40-year-old native of Troy, N.Y., has been a member of the Arkansas Army National Guard since 1993, and took the reins of the 875th in October 2003. She served active duty as an officer in the Army from 1989 to 1992 and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

In her civilian life, the avid runner is the chief of the Planning and Environmental Office for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Arkansas.