Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester Is The First Woman In The U.S. Army To Earn A Silver Star For Combat Valor

Then-Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester stands at attention before receiving her Silver Star. (Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp/Army)

Military Times: This sergeant became the first woman in the U.S. Army to earn a Silver Star for combat valor

On the morning of March 20, 2005, then-Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester was tasked with assisting a supply convoy moving east of Baghdad, a job that meant scanning and

clearing the route of any improvised explosive devices.

She’d done this job countless times before, getting shot at on almost a daily basis and seeing vehicles blown up more times than anyone would like to remember.

Executing daily patrols as a member of the National Guard’s Kentucky-based 617th Military Police Company meant guaranteed exposure to combat, something the Pentagon, until an order was signed in 2013, was not even allowing women to officially engage in as a occupational specialty.

“It was that one job where you can get out there and get dirty and be in an infantry-type environment,” she told the Tennessean in 2015.

“I guess it was one of the more exciting jobs in the military for women when I enlisted and it still is now.”

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WNU Editor: Her Silver Star citation is here.