Wolfenbarger became the first woman ever to command a U.S. Air Force Major Command, taking charge of Air Force Materiel Command.
On June 5, 2012, Janet C. Wolfenbarger assumed command as the eighth commander of Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. In doing so, she became the first woman in Air Force history to lead a Major Command (MAJCOM), one of the service's largest and most technically demanding organizations, responsible for research, development, testing, and acquisition of Air Force weapons systems.
AFMC oversaw tens of thousands of personnel and a vast budget dedicated to sustaining and modernizing the Air Force's technological edge. Wolfenbarger's appointment to lead it represented not just a personal achievement but a structural breakthrough: for the first time, a woman held authority over one of the Air Force's core organizational commands, on equal footing with her male predecessors and peers commanding other MAJCOMs.
This command assumption was historically inseparable from her simultaneous promotion to four-star general, making the day a doubly historic milestone. It underscored the maturation of the integration of women into the armed forces that had begun with her own admission to the Air Force Academy's first co-ed class in 1976.
Her leadership at AFMC included oversight of acquisition reform efforts and major weapons modernization programs, cementing her legacy as both a technical leader and a trailblazer for women in military leadership.