From the "the apple of her daddy's eye," to the soon-to-be U.S. Air Force's top nurse, Col. Kimberly A. Siniscalchi proved that when you're a Charleroi Area High School majorette who dreams big, you can do anything.

Col. Siniscalchi, daughter of Lois Stetz, of Charleroi, has been nominated by President Bush to the rank of major general, a two-star general and one of only 30 female generals in the Air Force.

If her appointment is approved by the Senate, she will become the chief of the Air Force Nurse Corps, and be promoted from colonel to major general, bypassing the one-star brigadier general rank. The position of the Air Force's top nurse is, by law, a two-star position.

Col. Siniscalchi also would become assistant surgeon general for medical force development with the Office of the Surgeon General at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C.

If appointed, Col. Siniscalchi, 50, will have reached the pinnacle of her career. The only higher post would be the surgeon general, a physician.

Her friends and family say they can easily believe it from the girl who they always knew was special, who owned a nurse's uniform and fake stethoscope and practiced nursing her older brother when she was 5.

"She was always a caring person," said friend and longtime neighbor Peggy Deutsch, who grew up in a row house next to the Stetzes on McKean Avenue in Charleroi.

"She was the kind of person who had goals," recalled Ms. Deutsch, who served as a bridesmaid in Col. Siniscalchi's 1981 wedding to husband Joseph Siniscalchi, a retired Air Force pilot.

"We've been very, very tight over the years," said Ms. Deutsch, who said it still shocks her to hear about her friend's astonishing feats, including a three-year stint as The White House nurse for President George H.W. Bush.

"That was the honor above honors," Ms. Deutsch said.

Col. Siniscalchi agreed, saying her time at The White House "was probably the best experience I've ever had."

She has served throughout the country and in Iraq as a nurse manager, a flight chief, medical logistics branch chief and chief of medical combat support operations. She has worked in numerous nursing units from the emergency room to advanced cardiac care.

Most recently, Col. Siniscalchi has been stationed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, as the deputy command surgeon for the Air Force Materiel Command.

The colonel has commanded a medical operations squadron, a medical group and a training group.

"It's amazing," Ms. Deutsch said.

Col. Siniscalchi didn't plan for a 29-year career in the military at first, she said.

"I was living in the here and now," as a typical teenager, she recalled. "From football game to football game," as a majorette with her friends.

"It wasn't something I planned on, I just worked very, very hard," she said.

Her mother recalls her daughter's long, curly hair, her gentle nature and sweet disposition.

"Kim is a wonderful daughter," said Mrs. Stetz, adding that her daughter helped care for her ailing father, Steve Stetz, before he died seven years ago.

After high school, Col. Siniscalchi sought a biology degree from Clarion University of Pennsylvania until a professor and mentor advised her to seek a nursing degree in Pittsburgh.

Armed with a scholarship from the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, Col. Siniscalchi earned a bachelor's degree in nursing from Duquesne University and went on to earn a master's degree in nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

If she's appointed, and it's unclear when a decision will come from the Senate, Col. Siniscalchi will oversee more than 19,000 active-duty, guard and reserve nursing personnel and 34,000 medical personnel in medical force development.

It's an awesome responsibility.

"It's very humbling when you look at the phenomenal care our medics are providing oversees," she said.

Col. Siniscalchi said she never has forgotten where she came from and during a recent visit to her mother she spoke to several college students who knew her only as an "Air Force nurse."

She advised the students and tells others to complete their education and to remember to make good decisions in life.

For sensitive jobs in the White House and in military installations, a security clearance requires no criminal history -- another good reason not to drive drunk.

Col. Siniscalchi said her husband has been very supportive through the many positions she's held in the Air Force, largely because his career as a reconnaissance pilot and as commander of flying units oversees took him away as well.

He now serves as vice president for program development for an aerospace company that provides aviation services.

Mr. Siniscalchi said his wife has done many great things.

"This is the epitome of a great career," he said. "We're very proud of her."

The couple's 20-year-old daughter Lauren is a pre-med student at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio.

If all goes as expected with the appointment, Col. Siniscalchi said she plans on moving to Bolling Air Force Base in the fall. She would be replacing Maj. Gen. Melissa Rank, a Frostburg, Md., native who is retiring after 30 years in the military.

Col. Siniscalchi's mother said she knew she could expect great things from her daughter.

Definitely the Air Force's top nurse. But, a two-star general? "Never," she said. "But I knew she was someone special."