Born in Averasboro, North Carolina, Blue grew up in Harnett County and Raleigh, North Carolina.
She was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1976. On June 15, 1978, she and four other women reported for duty, making them the first female officers in the 82nd Airborne Division. Because she reported first among them, she is often recognized as the very first female officer in the division.

Blue served on active duty from 1976 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1989. In 1978 she was one of five female officers ordered to report for duty with the 82nd Airborne Division.

She liked to say that because she was the first of those five to report she was the first female officer in the 82nd. After her time in uniform, Blue earned her master’s from NC Central University and a PhD from Ohio State. She was a professor at St. Augustine’s University, the University of Mount Olive, and Virginia State University.

Her personal papers and photographs are preserved in the military collection at the State Archives of North Carolina.

Photo Credit: State Archives of North Carolina
Narrative source: https://medium.com/nc-stories-of-service/bennis-m-blue-life-and-military-service-after-fort-bragg-1979-2010s-a5ac6efdf449