Photo: Flight School Graduation with Kate Melcher and Her Parents. Courtesy of Kate Melcher
Raised in Saline with a sense of faith and service, Kate Melcher followed that calling from Capitol Hill to the cockpit of an Apache helicopter, and back again to advocate for America’s veterans. Her story is one of duty, compassion, and an unbreakable commitment to “bring our boys home.”
Always Look Out for Others
Kate Melcher is a native daughter or Saline, born and raised. When she talks about what helped shape her life in Saline, she reflects on her high school experience. “I didn’t realize until I got out into the world that our class was breathing rarified air. I had an incredibly formative experience in Don DiPaolo’s high school government class, including trips to Washington DC. I just knew that teaching government was in my future.”
But it was her parents’ influence that paved the way. “We were raised Catholic, always looking out for others – the guiding principle throughout my life in terms of government service.”
After graduating from college, Melcher went to Washington, DC, and obtained an internship doing research and speech writing for the US Chief Justice at the Supreme Court. It was then that she learned what public service was like and decided not to go into teaching. Instead, she found a job as a staffer answering phones for a Delaware Senator named Biden.
We Spent a Lot of the Day Watching the Pentagon Burn
Then came 9/11. “I was working in the office on that beautiful September day. My phone happened to be the one that rang for the police to give us updated intelligence, and information was coming in fast.” It all turned quickly into chaos.
Melcher says, “Senator Biden was determined that terrorists would not stop the legislative process, so he got on the train and came to DC with senior staffers staying on. Junior staffers and interns were told to get to safety, so I loaded everyone into my Ford Escort, and we travelled outside Washington, which meant we drove past the Pentagon.”
Melcher describes the horrifying scene. “Traffic was deadlocked, so we spent a lot of our day watching the Pentagon burn.”
I Wanted to Become an Apache Pilot to Bring Our Boys Home
During the months that followed, Melcher soon found herself “spending a lot of time sending letters to Goldstar moms. I saw active duty and the reserves deployed without a full complement of personnel and with outdated equipment – for tours as long as 22 months. It was then that I decided to enlist. I went to school and became a rated Apache pilot, because I wanted to be able to provide support over those infantry divisions and hopefully bring more of our boys home.”
Melcher was one of the first women to train as an attack pilot, and she talks about integration in the military. “Integrating units isn’t always a smooth transition, but in the end they are stronger. It’s about meeting the standard with cohesion, good order, discipline, making the mission, and taking care of your military brother and sisters.”
And although she did all the right things to become an Apache pilot, she ended up returning to Washington.
My Job Was to Teach General Officers How to Talk to Congress
“For 15 years, I was in different components of the Army, but I was never deployed overseas. Senior army leadership were aware of my background and that I knew how to speak to Congress, so I was given orders to go back to the Pentagon as a legislative liaison for my active-duty time. My job was to brief general officers and teach them how to talk to Congress.”
At first disappointed, Melcher admits, “with a little bit of time and maturity, I realized I was well-suited as a legislative liaison and got to be part of the team that helped get the supplemental appropriation to armories. This meant our troops were surviving IEDs at an increased rate.”
“I was also part of the team that got a fourth star for the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Before Iraq and Afghanistan, the national guard chief was not on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and therefore did not get a vote on that level of strategic planning, even as we were deploying national guard units at the same operational tempo as active duty.”
As a result, by better equipping the National Guard and elevating their leadership, Melcher felt she achieved her initial goal to ‘bring more of our boys home.’
Melcher Returns to Saline as Fisher House Executive Director
Then came the next turn in Melcher’s career. “After 20 years of public service in the military and as a civilian, I came off active duty and returned to Michigan. I saw that the Michigan Fisher House had an opening for an administrative assistant and shortly after accepting that role, I stepped in as Executive Director.”
The Fisher Houses are comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay free, while a loved one is in the hospital. The Ann Arbor Fisher House is located near the VA Hospital and Michigan Medicine.
Melcher is now pouring her energy into promoting veteran welfare. She also has leadership roles at the Region 9 Veteran Community Action Team, Association of the United States Army, Women in Defense – Michigan, Veterans Radio America, and the Washtenaw County Veterans Affairs Committee.
All of the Veterans Service is Worthy
Those who serve are willing to give their lives for their country and way of life – and many do. And while Captain Melcher’s career took her to unexpected places, she determinedly kept her sights on her goal – ‘to bring our boys home.’
She leans on her guiding principle of looking out for others by saying, “I want to make sure every veteran hears that their service was worthy – combat is not the only place to serve. If you were a finance officer, you better believe you were important because nobody gets paid without you. There’s so much that goes into the US military – the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen. Not everyone is a six-foot, musclebound, buzz-cut veteran. They come in all shapes and sizes. All their service is worthy.” Mission accomplished, Captain Melcher, mission accomplished. Thank you for your service.
8123 Main St Suite 200 Dexter, MI 48130
