Military Photographer: ‘The Medic Could Not Get There Fast Enough’

Generations of Stacy Pearsall’s family have worn uniforms: Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. So it probably wasn’t much of surprise when she asked her parents to join the Air Force at the age of 17.

She is a decorated combat veteran who, as a woman, was never supposed to see combat. However, she experienced military life at its most difficult, living in the ruins of Iraqi towns, dodging sniper fire.

Photographer Brian Gill, editor Tim Smith and I put together a video for Thursday’s NewsHour that tells the story of how she was repeatedly wounded and how she’s coping with constant pain now as a civilian photographer. But as always, there is more to the story than we had time to tell on the broadcast. Here is an additional excerpt from the interview, where she describes the firefight where she got the final injury that ended her military career.

She was riding in a Stryker armored fighting vehicle like the one above when it came under attack.