SwiftVets.com

[olympian2004]

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, 617th Military Police Company, Iraq

FEMALE SERGEANT WINS SILVER STAR

Terrorists Humiliated By Woman Warrior From Hell

A female military police soldier was awarded a Silver Star Thursday in Iraq for helping to fight off insurgent forces that ambushed her convoy in March.

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., is the first woman since World War II to receive the prestigious award for bravery under fire, according to a Defense Department press release.

Hester, 23, received the award along with two other soldiers from her unit, Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein and Spc. Jason Mike for their actions during the March 20 ambush.

Hester’s squad was shadowing a supply convoy south of Baghdad when insurgents opened fire on the 29-vehicle convoy.

The squad of nine MP soldiers riding in three Humvees moved in to flanking positions and counter-attacked the insurgent position.

“I got out of the truck with Nein and leaned up against a berm. I know I hit one of the RPK gunners and an insurgent that was down in the trench,” the MP told an Army Times reporter on March 21 in Baghdad. “As soon as we came on the scene their fire direction changed. [The insurgents] realized who they needed to fire on.”

Hester attacked a trench position with 40mm grenades from the M203 grenade launcher on her M4. She then helped clear two trenches, where she killed three insurgents with her M4, according to therelease.

When the firing ceased, 27 insurgents were dead, six were wounded and one was captured, the release said.

Three of Hester’s fellow soldiers were wounded in the ambush.

Hester knew she wanted to be an MP when she joined the Army, but never thought she’d see true combat in that MOS. “When I first became an MP, going to Iraq — period — wasn’t even realistic. I didn’t realize I’d be this involved in the fight here,” she said in the March 21 interview.

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More of Gunny Bob's 'Hall of Heroes' here:

http://www.850koa.com/shows/newman-heroes.html
_________________
Tony in Boulder, Colorado

[GM Strong]

I know what 27 terrorists didn't find in the place they went to. Our women are tougher than these terrorists. I still don't want them in combat as a matter of course, but when they find themselves there, Watch out, you Jihadis.
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8th Army Korea 68-69

[Rdtf]

I remember a joke that went around when the war began about us winning the war on the first day, because we surprised them with naked female paratroopers - and they all just froze in shock