Margaret Kolze attended Glenbard High School in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and graduated from Iowa State College in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science in Foods and Nutrition. Following a one-year internship with the Veteran's Administration Hospital, Kolze began working as an Army Dietitian and was stationed at the 382nd General Hospital in Osaka, Japan from 1951-1952. Kolze was later stationed in Europe, New Jersey and at Fort Ord in California. She retired from the US Army with a rank of Major in 1969.

At the start of the Korean War in 1950 there were approximately 22,000 women in the military, with approximately 7,000 of them serving as medical professionals. Many army nurses served in Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (also known as M.A.S.H.) units or staffed army hospitals in Japan, which during the Korean War cared for injured or ill service members who had been transported out of Korea. Over time these hospitals also began caring for an increasing number of service member dependents, expanding their services to include obstetrics and pediatric units.

World War I saw the first active recruitment of dietitians as a specific occupation for military service, with the first overseas service being deployed in May 1917. On October 2, 1922 the first Army training program for dietitians was established in the Medical Department Professional Services School at Walter Reed General Hospital. During World War II Army trained dietitians served in every theatre throughout the war, but it wasn't until June 1944 with the passage of Public Law 78-530 that Army dietitians were granted commissioned status, allowing them the same allowances, rights, benefits, and privileges, and it wasn't until 1947 that permanent military status was granted with the establishment of the Women's Medical Specialist Corps. During the Korean War, Army dietitians continued to serve in M.A.S.H units and were also expanded to supervise the operation of food service systems for the expanded army hospitals in Japan.