Colonel McDermott is a soldier-scholar who served in a variety of command and staff positions, stateside and overseas, during her 27-year Army career, including command of Bravo Battery, 1st Battalion, 30th Field Artillery Regiment, the largest artillery battery in the Army at the time. Some of her other assignments include service in a tactical Military Intelligence battalion in Germany, executive officer of 1/30th Field Artillery Battalion, Deputy G2 (Intelligence) of III Corps Artillery, both at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, political-military planner and counter-proliferation strategist for United States Forces Korea, and executive officer to the Assistant Chief of Staff, Strategy and Policy, United States Forces Korea/Commanding General, Marine Corps Forces-Korea.
Pilar retired from active military duty on July 1, 2013 as a Professor of History and Chief, International Division, Department of History, United States Military Academy. Upon her retirement in 2013, Pilar received the Compass Award from the Women’s Leadership Exchange, awarded to those “who have shifted the paradigm of how women are perceived as leaders.” Pilar was inducted into the New York State Veterans Hall of Fame in May 2016.
Pilar serves on Series Editorial Advisory Board, Albatros Ediciones (Spain), Historia de España en su proyección internacional en la Edad Moderna [History of Spain & its International Standing in the Modern Age]. She is also a Board Member for Hudson River Rowing Association, as well as an Educator for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York.