Local

When Sergeant Stacy Blackburn-Hoelscher returned home from a two-year Army deployment in Iraq, she wanted to go back to the war zone. The Detroit, Michigan native served with an all-male tactical unit, a pioneering role for women at the time. In 2009, after switching over to the Marines, she deployed to Afghanistan. Stepping up to serve on a Female Engagement Team, she crossed over lines drawn for her male counterparts. In the last part of our series about the shifting roles of women in combat, WHQR’s Sara Wood brings us her story.