Summary: Need help with PR? If you are looking for a great PR firm, you've found one. Walker Sands is a leading Chicago PR firm with a strong track record that makes it one of top national PR agencies..

She's first woman to get the medal for close combat

The grenade pins on Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester's key chain help remind her of the March day she made history.
(article continues below useful links)

They are from grenades the Army National Guard soldier threw during a battle with Iraqi insurgents, a furious American counterattack for which she was awarded a Silver Star.

In June, Hester, 23, became the only woman in the nation's history to be awarded the medal for actions during close combat and the first female recipient of the honor since World War II. Now back at her childhood home in Bowling Green after 11 months in Iraq, Hester feels complex emotions about what she did that led to the award and about the comrades who didn't make it back home.

"I suppose I'm considered a hero," Hester said. "It's not something I bring up myself, but if anyone asks, I'm more than happy to tell about it."

Hester and two other members of the Richmond-based 617th Military Police Company were awarded Silver Stars following the March 20 battle near Baghdad.

Staff Sgt. Timothy Nein, 36, of Henryville, Ind., and Spc. Jason Mike, 23, of Radcliff, Ky., also received the nation's third-highest award for combat valor.

The 10 soldiers in their unit were greatly outnumbered but managed to outflank about 50 insurgents who were attacking a convoy of tractor-trailers and killed or captured most of them.

Hester killed three insurgents with her rifle, according to the Pentagon.

She said she may have killed more with the grenades.

No U.S. soldiers were killed, and three were wounded.

The battle resulted in the largest single insurgent death toll since last fall's battle for Fallujah.

Citizen soldier In an interview at her parents' home, Hester, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., said she finds it difficult to be an observer to a war she was living and fighting only a few weeks ago.

"I can't believe I'm watching it on TV now and not experiencing it day to day," said Hester, who left the Middle East on the day that the 2,000th American soldier was killed in Iraq. "It brings back a lot of memories."

Those memories include the June and September deaths of two members of her company: Spc. Michael Hayes of Morgantown, Ky., and Staff Sgt. William Allers of Leitchfield, Ky., respectively.

The Silver Stars were issued two days after Hayes was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade near Baghdad. Hester compares the timing of the events to the death of her grandfather and the birth of her nephew in a 24-hour period two years ago.

"I lost two of my friends over there," Hester said. "When they talk about deaths, I think about them."

She also thinks about the March insurgent attack, the first and last time she used her military training to kill an enemy.

"When it was all said and done with, I had to sit down for a minute," Hester said. "I was shaking, shaking really bad. I thought, 'What just happened here?' "

"Hopefully I won't have to do it again. You can train all you want to, but until you're placed in that situation, you don't know how you'll react to it."

Habits learned on the battlefield are hard to break, Hester said. She cites her tendency to feel like she's behind the wheel of a Humvee when she's driving her pickup truck and her habit of still checking for her weapon.

She recalls with precise detail the ambush that made her a military hero.

The battle It was about 9 on a Sunday morning when Hester and her unit were shadowing a supply convoy in its patrol area southeast of Baghdad.

She heard the familiar crackle of gunfire.

"We had been shot at before," Hester said. "Any time you go on the road, you hear gunfire."

But as the shots grew louder and more frequent, Hester realized that it "was much bigger than anything we'd been into" before.

The convoy and an armored Humvee guarding it had come under fire from a field next to the road, Hester said.

Hester, a vehicle commander who was trailing the convoy in one of three other Humvees, raced with her unit to fend off a well-coordinated attack in which the insurgents were equipped with dozens of submachine guns, rockets and cars.

No other coalition squads were in the area, so the military police officers were on their own.

"I didn't have time to think about anything," Hester said. "I turned around and started unstrapping my ammo."

For the next 30 minutes, Hester and her unit battled the insurgents, killing 27 of the attackers, wounding six and capturing one.

First, the squad moved to the side of the road, flanking the insurgents and cutting off their escape route, and drawing fire away from the convoy.

They then launched a counterattack with guns and grenades.

During the fight, three members of her unit were wounded by enemy fire. Hester realized she was in a fight for her life.

"I saw several guys in the field in trench lines," Hester said. "I started laying down fire and ended up taking two right off the bat."

Insurgents continued firing, and Nein and Hester lobbed grenades at the enemy.

When the battle ended and the bodies were removed, the unit found each of the insurgents had a pair of handcuffs.

"We realized they were planning on taking prisoners," Hester said.

More than seven months later, Hester still shakes slightly when recounting the events.

"Even today when we talk about it, I'm like, 'Wow, what the heck did we do that day?' " Hester said.

Unlearning the war Since arriving in the leafy Bowling Green neighborhood where her parents live on Oct. 31, Hester has tried her best to readjust to civilian life.

She has taken her nephew trick-or-treating, gone jet-skiing with her cousin, and eaten oysters and chicken wings at a favorite restaurant with friends.

Instead of driving along dusty Iraqi roads, she again cruises up and down Interstate 65 between Bowling Green and Nashville.

She's also shopped for a case in which to display her Silver Star, an honor that inspires awe in her.

"It still hasn't hit me," said Hester, who joined the National Guard in April 2001. "Maybe it will a few years down the road."

Hester, who moved to Nashville two years ago, said she doesn't plan to return to the shoe store she managed before being deployed.

She plans to relax for another month before assessing her options, which include going to college to study law enforcement or seeking a full-time position with the Kentucky National Guard.

Hester wants to "lay low" for a while. She turned down an invitation to travel the state with Gov. Ernie Fletcher yesterday -- Veterans Day.

She is surrounding herself with friends and family, happy to be in her bedroom and no longer in three-bedroom trailers with 180 other soldiers at Camp Liberty in Iraq.

When she drives or goes to sleep, the memories of all she's seen come back to her.

"Most every soldier over there has seen death," she said.

'It's great to have her back' Hester's parents, who sometimes went a week without hearing from their daughter in Iraq, are thrilled to have her home.

"From the time you get up to the time you go to bed, it was a constant worry," said Shelia Hester. "It's great to have her back."

Jerry Hester said he is looking forward to spending this Thanksgiving with his entire family.

"Last year, she was boarding a plane in Kuwait to go to Iraq and only got a chicken sandwich," said Jerry Hester, a maintenance worker. "It'll be nice to be together this time."

Hester, a 2000 graduate of Greenwood High School who played varsity softball and basketball, has an older sister who lives in Bowling Green.

Hester said she would consider re-enlisting in the National Guard before her six-year contract ends in 2007. But for now, she's ready for a break from war.

"It got to the point where we had a job to do, but did we really want to go out there and risk it? No. But we had a job to do," Hester said.

David Altom, a spokesman for the Kentucky National Guard, said Hester's company is guaranteed 90 days off but could be deployed again.

"You never say never, but we hope these people get to stay home quite a while and get to stabilize their lives," Altom said.

Hester believes in a war she says has brought freedom and democracy to the Iraqis.

She would now like to see the country exercise more self-rule.

"I think we're wanted over there, but we've been over there for so long that they're getting tired of dealing with it," Hester said. "They want to help themselves."

Hester said she can envision returning to Iraq or another location overseas in a leadership role.

"From my experiences over there, I have a lot to offer," Hester said. "I'd like to have my own squad and keep people safe and out of trouble."

Copyright © 2005. The Courier-Journal.