How one Marine turned a trailblazing career into a lifetime of service

For Major General Angie Salinas, service was never a career. It was a calling.

That calling carried her through 39 years in the Marine Corps and into a new and unexpected chapter of leadership. As CEO of Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, she spent more than a decade helping young women find their voice, build confidence and realize their potential.

The setting had changed, but the purpose was familiar

Long before Salinas was opening doors for the next generation, she was learning how to walk through them herself.

The first in her family to attend college, she was ready to drop out at the end of her sophomore year when a routine trip to the post office altered the course of her life.

April 30, 1974

“A Marine stepped out, looked right at me and asked, ‘Why aren’t you a United States Marine?’” Salinas recalled. 

The words shook her to her core.

“I just looked at him and said, ‘I’m just trying to mail a letter.’”

By May 4, Salinas was raising her hand and had solemnly sworn to support and defend the Constitution.

Throughout her career, Salinas shattered barriers for women in the military as the first woman to command a Marine recruiting station, a Marine Corps recruiting district and Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.

She also became the first Hispanic woman promoted to the rank of general in the Marine Corps, and at the time of her retirement in 2013, was the highest-ranking woman in the Marines.

While the ranks and responsibilities changed over the years, some things never did. Among them was Navy Federal Credit Union, where Salinas opened her first account as a second lieutenant and has remained a member nearly 50 years later.

“I am loyal to Navy Federal,” she said. “They've been with me my entire life.”

From car loans, mortgages and IRA accounts to the milestones that accompanied a lifetime of military service, Navy Federal was a steady presence throughout her journey.

“I was lucky to have found somewhere and start saving up early on so that I set myself up for success,” she said. “I’ve always had my mortgages through Navy Federal, so even when I was overseas and I got into a scenario where I had to refinance, Navy Federal came through for me.”

The experience reinforced a lesson Salinas carried throughout her career: the importance of being prepared and taking responsibility for the people and resources entrusted to you. When she reflects on her years in uniform, she rarely talks about rank or recognition. Instead, she talks about responsibility.

At the time, women made up only a small fraction of the military. As one of the few women rising through the ranks, Salinas knew her performance could shape perceptions of the women who followed her.

“Back then, each branch of the service could only have 2% women, so of the 2,000 women in the Marines, [at the time], less than 300 of them were officers,” she said. “So, when I got put in those positions, it was more about just being really good at my job because what happens if you fail? Will they ever put another woman in that job?”

Her mom — one of her biggest supporters throughout her career — told her, “It’s great that you’re the first, but if there isn’t a second, then it doesn’t matter.”

That perspective would later influence one of the most important decisions of her career.

As Salinas approached 20 years in the Marine Corps, she considered retirement and began exploring outside opportunities. One interview, however, left her questioning whether she was truly ready to leave.

“I asked the interviewee, ‘What motivates you to come to work?’” she remembered. “The person looked at me and said, ‘If you think you're going to find here what you have in the military, you're wrong.’”

The conversation stuck with her, but it was her mother's perspective that brought everything into focus.

“She told me, ‘From the moment you wake up until the moment you go to sleep, you're a Marine. You love what you do. You're brave, and you're making a difference in the world,’” Salinas said. “‘You can always do something else, but once you take that uniform off, you're no longer going to be able to show the world you're a Marine.’”

Salinas took her mother's words to heart. Instead of retiring, she stayed for another 19 years, continuing a career defined by service, leadership and a commitment to opening doors for those who followed.

In the years since her retirement, women have continued to rise through the ranks of the Marine Corps, building on the path forged by trailblazers like Salinas.

But for the retired Major General, taking off the uniform didn’t mean stepping away from service. It simply meant finding a new way to make a difference.

In 2015, she stepped into a new leadership role as CEO of Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, where she spent her time helping girls discover opportunities she never imagined were possible when she was growing up.

“The idea of working with Girl Scouts really spoke to me because the mission was building girls with courage, confidence and character to make the world a better place,” Salinas said. “And that mission spoke to me because Honor, Courage and Commitment is the Marine Corps mission and it seemed like it went hand-in-hand.”

Entering the nonprofit, Salinas had no idea what she was getting herself into, and what she initially thought would be a short-term role quickly became a mission she deeply believed in.

“I went into this nonprofit thinking I was just going to do two years,’” she laughed. “But oh my, it was so stressful, and it was really about trying to get the world to understand that the least amount of money [in the United States] seems to go to women and girls.”

Eleven years later, Salinas had become more than the CEO of Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas. She had become part of the sisterhood. Raising the three-finger Girl Scout sign alongside girls of all ages, she recognized something familiar: the same lifelong sense of belonging she had found in the Marine Corps.

Different mission, different uniform, but the same commitment to service and leadership

Although she stepped down as CEO of Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas in September, Salinas isn't finished shaping the next generation of leaders. A book now in development is simply the next chapter in that effort.

And if there's one lesson she hopes future leaders take from her story, it's the same one that has guided her throughout a lifetime of service.

“If you invest in young girls today, teach them that education is important and give them courage and confidence in character, then you're arming them to be strong, resilient women,” she said. 

Yet despite the ranks she earned and the barriers she broke, Salinas is quick to deflect attention from herself.

She still thinks about the Marine recruiter, Sgt. Thompson, who first approached her as a college student and encouraged her to consider a path she had never imagined for herself.

"I think about him all the time," Salinas said. "He took a chance on me."

She credits countless others throughout her career, from the leaders who trusted her with opportunities to the mentors who helped her navigate uncharted territory.

“I wasn't the smartest kid. I wasn't the dumbest kid,” she said. “There are so many of us in the middle. You're just the hard worker. You're the one who shows up, but you're not the one anybody really notices.”

Pausing, she reflected on the journey that followed.

“I don't know how I ended up here," she said. "That's why I feel so blessed.”

Looking back, Salinas is grateful not only for the opportunities she was given, but for the opportunities she was able to create for others.

“A Marine just wants to be known for being a good Marine,” she said. “Not a good woman Marine or a Hispanic Marine. Just a good Marine.”

It's a simple sentiment from someone who spent a lifetime proving exactly what that means.

Long after the uniforms, titles and accolades have faded into memory, Salinas hopes what endures are the lessons she spent a lifetime sharing: lead with courage, serve others and leave the door open for those who come next.