Leigh Ann Hester

Storming Enemy Trenches to Save an Ambushed Convoy

Caught under machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades, a young military police sergeant led her team through an ambush and fought into the enemy’s trenches. Her counterattack helped save a supply convoy and earned a historic Silver Star.

Leigh Ann Hester was born on 12 January 1982 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She enlisted in the Kentucky Army National Guard in April 2001, before the September 11 attacks, and trained as a military police soldier at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. In November 2004, she deployed to Iraq with the Richmond-based 617th Military Police Company. Operating from Camp Liberty near Baghdad, her unit protected supply routes and searched for roadside bombs threatening military convoys.

On 20 March 2005, near Salman Pak, approximately 50 insurgents attacked a convoy of 30 supply trucks. Automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades swept the road, trapping vehicles in the ambush. Hester’s squad moved forward to engage the attackers and protect the convoy.

Serving as a team leader, Hester directed suppressive fire and manoeuvred into a position beside the enemy’s trenches. She dismounted under fire, engaged the attackers with her grenade launcher, and followed squad leader Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein into the assault. Using hand grenades and their M4 rifles, they cleared two trenches. Hester personally killed three insurgents during the engagement.

Lieutenant General John R. Vines presented her Silver Star at Camp Liberty on 16 June 2005. She became the first woman since the Second World War to receive the decoration, and the first woman awarded it for direct combat action against an enemy.

Silver Star Citation

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, United States Army, for exceptionally valorous achievement during combat operations in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, on 20 March 2005, in Iraq. Sergeant Hester’s heroic actions in Iraq contributed to the overwhelming success of the Multi-National Corps-Iraq mission.

While serving as the Team Leader for RAVEN 42B in the 617th Military Police Company, 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), 18th Military Police Brigade, Sergeant Hester led her soldiers on a counterattack of anti-Iraqi Forces (AIF) who were ambushing a convoy with heavy AK-47 assault rifle fire, PRK machine gun fire, and rocket propelled grenades. Sergeant Hester maneuvered her team through the kill zone into a flanking position where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M-203 rounds.

She then cleared two trenches with her Squad Leader where she engaged and eliminated 3 AIF with her M-4 rifle. Her actions saved the lives of numerous convoy members. Sergeant Hester’s bravery is in keeping with the finest traditions of military heroism and reflects distinct credit upon herself, the 503d Military Police Battalion (Airborne), the 18th Military Police Brigade, and the United States Army.

After Iraq, Hester continued serving both her country and her community. She became a police officer in Franklin, Tennessee, in August 2006. Following a break from military service in 2009, she joined the Tennessee Army National Guard in 2010.

From 2012 to 2014, she instructed soldiers at the 117th Regional Training Institute Military Police School. She subsequently deployed to Afghanistan as a Cultural Support Team member and assisted the response to Hurricane Maria on Saint Croix in 2017.

By 2024, Hester was serving as first sergeant of Tennessee’s 267th Military Police Company during its Middle East deployment supporting Operation Spartan Shield. Her career extended well beyond the ambush that brought her national recognition, encompassing combat service, military instruction, disaster response and civilian policing.