Chelsea Porterfield

Chelsea Porterfield served 20 years in the U.S. Army with duty stations in Germany, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., Korea, Hawaii, and the National Capital Region. She deployed overseas to Israel in 2003, Iraq from 2004-05 and 2005-07 and to Afghanistan in 2008-09. She served as Military Police until 2017 when she accepted an assignment to serve as a platoon sergeant in the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).

In September 2019, Porterfield became the first woman to lead a marching element onto Arlington, in the spring of 2020 became the 38th Sergeant of the Guard, and in 2021, she became the fifth woman to earn her Tomb Guard Identification Badge.

Porterfield’s success came after she overcame a battle with suicide in November 2018. “The bravest thing I ever did,” Porterfield would later say, “was choosing to live when I wanted to die.” Today Porterfield remains open about her bout with suicide. She has become a spokesperson for a veteran suicide survivor group, letting other veterans know there are places to seek help.