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Kirstie Ennis joined the Marine Corps at 17 years old in Pensacola, Florida. Over the six years she served, she performed duties as a helicopter door gunner and airframes mechanic on the CH-53 platforms.
On June 23, 2012, during her last deployment to Afghanistan, her helicopter went down while performing combat resupplies to FOB Now Zad. As a result of the crash, she sustained various injuries that include: an above the knee amputation on her left leg (most recent revision on December 23, 2015, from below-knee to above-knee), full-thickness facial trauma, traumatic brain injury, cervical and lumbar spine trauma, and bilateral shoulder damage.
She medically retired out of the Marine Corps as a Sergeant in May 2014. She has earned her Master’s degree in Psychology and is in her last semester for her Master’s Degree in Business Administration. On July 25th, 2017 at 3:00 PM WIT, after a 12-hour summit push, Kirstie Ennis became the first female US veteran above the knee amputee to summit Carstensz Pyramid.
