Stacy Pearsall began her service as an Air Force photographer at the age of 17. During her time in service, she traveled to over 41 countries. She attended the Military Photojournalism Program at S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University where she was named a 50 Forward distinguished graduate. During her deployments, she earned the Bronze Star Medal and Air Force Commendation with Valor for combat actions in Iraq. Though combat disabled and retired from military service, her service animal Charlie helps her continue to work worldwide as an independent photographer and as an author, educator, military consultant, BRAVO748 public speaker and founder of the Veterans Portrait Project.
Her work has been exhibited at The Woodruff Arts Center, The Pentagon, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and the National Veterans Memorial and Museum among numerous other galleries and venues. She is the Producer and Host of the PBS television series, After Action. She is one of only three women to win the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) Military Photographer of the Year competition, and the first woman to earn it twice. She has authored two books – Shooter: Combat from Behind the Camera and A Photojournalist’s Field Guide: In the Trenches with Stacy Pearsall.
Stacy has been presented with the Jefferson Award and Hill Vets 100 Artist of the Year, honored with the Daughters of the American Revolution Margaret Cochran Corbin Award and the Girl Scout’s Woman of Distinction Award, lauded by President Barack Obama as a White House as a Champion of Change, and she holds an honorary doctoral degree in journalism from The Citadel. She has served as a nominating juror for the Pulitzer Prize.
Her military medals and honors include:
Bronze Star
Air Medal with one oak leaf cluster (one earned aboard Army UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopters in Iraq and the other earned aboard Marines CH-53E and CH46E Seahawks in HOA)
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Air Force Commendation with Valor with one oak leaf cluster
Joint Service Achievement Medal with one oak leaf cluster
Army Achievement Medal
Air Force Combat Action Medal
Joint Meritorious Unit Award with one oak leaf cluster
Meritorious Unit Award
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor
Air Force Combat Action Medal
Other Military Honors:
Army Combat Action Badge
Military Photographer of the year (2003 and 2007)
Joint Junior Service Member of the Year (1999, 2000, 2001)
Air Force NCO of the Year (2004)
John Levitow Recipient
Stacy became a life member of The American Legion when she transitioned out of service and joined Post 166 in Goose Creek when she settled in South Carolina a few years later.
Stacy Pearsall has hosted 38 Episodes.
-
Episode 233: Tango Alpha Lima: Exit 12 Dance Company co-founder and Artistic Director Román Baca
October 1st, 2024 | Season 5 | 59 mins 52 secs
american legion, art therapy, arts, ballet, bravo zulu, breakdancing, choreography, community, creative, dance, gwot, homeless veterans, hope, iraq, joy, korean war veteran, marine, military, military family, navy, olympics, post-9/11, raygun, scandal, service, spirituality, veteran, wifi
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 232: Tango Alpha Lima: VA Pact Act Transitional Executive Director Steven Miska
September 24th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 17 mins
accredited service officers, afghan interpreters, agent orange, american legion, astronaut, budget shortfalls, c&p exam, community, disability claim, fallujah, flight surgeon, gwot, homelessness, ied, inter-generational effects of exposure, international space station, iraqi interpreters, issues-based, local national partners, military, military transition, mustache, naval aviator, navy seal, non-partisan, pact act, post-9/11, presumptive conditions, professional development, service, service dog, siv, tikrit, toxic exposure, unhoused veterans, va secretary, vba, veteran, veteran employment, vietnam veteran, vso, west la va, west point
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 228: Tango Alpha Lima: American Legion 105th National Convention
August 27th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 18 mins
american legion, be the one, burial benefits, cemetery, champva, coin collection, comfort, community, crafting, dental care, fitness, gaming, gravesite, gwot, healing, honor, ketamine, medicare, medicare advantage, mental health, military, military spouse, mint, neuro plasticity, post-9/11, psychedelics, ptsd, public health, quilting, rpg, service, social isolation, stigma, suicidality, supplements, tricare, veteran, wellcare, wellness, wwii, wwii memorial
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 227: Tango Alpha Lima: Wellbeing Think Tank founder Chase Sterling
August 20th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 25 mins
ai, american legion, community, dogs, entrepreneur, exercise science, fitness, gwot, halo, health, inclusivity, k9, marines, military, military dog, military transition, navsea, pentagon, post-9/11, red sky morning, robot, role model, service, spaceballs, supersoldier, swifties, taylor swift, toxic workplace, training, veteran, weightlifting, wellbeing consultant, working dog, workplace wellbeing
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 226: Tango Alpha Lima: Marine Corps Veteran and Comedian Bryson Banks
August 13th, 2024 | Season 5 | 49 mins 19 secs
air force veteran, american legion, be the one, buddy check, camaraderie, coffee chat, comedian, community, crowdwork, f-bomb, fasting, gwot, honor, legion family, mental health support, military, military spouse, pershing park, post-9/11, ptsd, remembrance, service, soldier’s journey, stand-up, veteran, world war i memorial, wwii
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 225: Tango Alpha Lima: FOX Sports NFL Insider and MVP Co-Founder Jay Glazer
August 6th, 2024 | Season 5 | 58 mins 10 secs
afghanistan, american legion, be the one, bill rasmussen], celebration, combat veteran, community, douglas macarthur, espn, gwot, herstory, mental health, merging vets & players, military, mma, mvp, nfl, post-9/11, pow, ptsd, purple heart, rescue mission, selflessness, service, shoshanna johnson, survivor guilt, survivor responsibility, teammate, transition, veteran, veteran suicide, veterans portrait project, woman veteran
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 224: Tango Alpha Lima: Servant Leadership with Retired Lt. Col Oakland McCulloch
July 30th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 9 mins
american legion, code-breakers, community, fdr, gwot, journaling, leadership, marketing, military, military jokes, navy, post-9/11, prayers, president franklin d. roosevelt, rotc, self-reflection, servant leadership, service, training, transition, trust, veteran, vision, waves, west point, wwii
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 223: Tango Alpha Lima: “A Date With Suicide” author D. Paul Fleming
July 23rd, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 11 mins
alternative therapies, american legion, audiobook, author, be the one, catharsis, childhood trauma, community, gwot, humor, legion baseball, mental health, military, military memoir, military story, pact act, post-9/11, ptsd, service, storyteller, suicide, va, va dental care, veteran, writing therapy
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 222: Tango Alpha Lima: Stem Cell therapy with BioXcellerator founder Eric Stoffers
July 16th, 2024 | Season 5 | 47 mins
alternative medicine, american legion, balloon, be the one, bravo zulu, community, community walk, concierge, conscription, entrepreneur, gwot, holistic health, ice cream, ice cream barge, illinois, mandatory service, military, military draft, overseas graves, pacific theatre, post-9/11, selective service, service, stem cell therapy, suicide awareness, veteran, white glove, wwii
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 221: Tango Alpha Lima: Warrior Canine Connection with Rick Yount and Joe Ouellette
July 9th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 2 mins
active-duty, american legion, community, concussion, dog training, guide dog, guitar, gwot, irritable heart, labrador retrievers, military, mission, mobility, music therapy, national guard, paws act, post-9/11, prosthetics and sensory services, seeing eye dog, service, service dog, stress signals, tbi, therapy, unfunded mandate, veteran, wounded warrior
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 220: Tango Alpha Lima: Haunted War Tales with Army veteran R.C. Bramhall
July 2nd, 2024 | Season 5 | 57 mins 17 secs
82nd airborne, abu ghraib, afghanistan, almas, american legion, animal attack, author, bigfoot, cannibalism, community, cryptid, energy signature, fda, flying tigers, gwot, haunted, iraq, italy, japanese pow, legend, letters home, mail, mdma, military, military stories, oil-drum drop, op rock, paranormal, post-9/11, postal service, psy-ops, ptsd, quora, reddit rabbit-hole, rock ape, salerno, sasquatch, service, solomon island giants, special forces, suicide, therapy, ufo, unexplained, validation, verification, veteran, vietnam war, writer, wwii
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 219: Tango Alpha Lima: Retired Army Maj. Gen. Tammy Smith - Living under the confines of DADT
June 25th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 17 mins
afghan allies, afghanistan, ally, american legion, authenticity, community, dadt, diversity, documentary, don’t ask don’t tell, flag officer, george washington, green beret, gwot, humanizing, inclusivity, korean war, korean war memorial, lgbtq+, major general baron friedrich von steuben, military, military discharge, military family, military memorabilia, military spouse, moral injury, outcomes based learning, post-9/11, powerpoint, pride, purple heart, retrograde, rotc, service, service officers, states' rights, support system, transition, tribe, veteran, vietnam veteran
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 218: Tango Alpha Lima: Wrestle Like a Girl CEO and founder Sally Roberts
June 18th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 16 mins
advocacy, alternative therapies, american legion, assessment, athletics, bad-ass women, baseline, be the one, biomarkers, brain health, camaraderie, cognitive testing, community, dementia, federal employment, female veteran, florida, fod walk, fred smith, gator, gwot, head trauma, hormones, it's ok to not be ok, joy in suffering, leadership, life lessons, love is service, military, military spouses, neurological activity, non-profit, olympics, paris post 1, pentagon, personalized medicine, post-9/11, resources, self-love, service, sharing, state department, stigma, tbi, traumatic brain injury, veteran, veteran of the year, vulnerability, women, wrestling
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 217: Tango Alpha Lima: Veteran Socials to Combat Loneliness Epidemic with Dr. Jay Gorman
June 11th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 8 mins
american legion, arlington, be the one, buddy check, cemetery, community, connection, digital relationships, gaza pier, gi bill, gwot, history, humanitarian aid, loneliness, mementos, mental health care, mental health stigma, military, peer-to-peer connection, post-9/11, post-traumatic growth, purple heart, resilience, service, service dog, social circles, social interactions, social media, substance use, suicidal ideation, tbi, transition, va, veteran, veteran gaming, veterans socials, wwii
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 216: Tango Alpha Lima: Wounded veteran and powerlifting champ Omar 'Crispy' Avila
June 4th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 19 mins
aces, agent orange, american legion, arizona ied, bench press, bravo zulu, burn pit, community, deadlift, family, fighter jets, food pantry, forgiveness, gwot, luke skywalker, medical screening, mental health, military, missile defense, pact act, pain management, paralympic athlete, paranormal, patience, post-9/11, powerlifting, prosthetic, self-reflection, service, service officer, star wars, stem cell treatment, support system, survivor guilt, tbi, thankfulness, toxic exposure, uap, ufo, veteran, weightlifting, world record
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.
-
Episode 215: Tango Alpha Lima: USU CHAMP with Capt. J. Russell Linderman and Andrea Lindsey
May 28th, 2024 | Season 5 | 1 hr 15 mins
american legion, band of brothers, blackhawk, boeing, chinook, community, d-day, dietitian, easy company, evidence based, fara, fitness, gwot, holisitc, human performance, identification, legion family, military, military superstitions, national commander, navy sea cadets, navy seal, normandy, nutrition, pandemic, paratroopers, pcs, post-9/11, preventative medicine, ptsd, recruiting, research, service, sleep hygiene, sleeplessness, sons of the american legion, stress, supplements, tbi, transition, travel, tsa, usid, vertical flight, veteran, weight-loss, wellness
Tango Alpha Lima is a podcast from The American Legion. Learn more at www.legion.org/tangoalphalima.