Military In December 1999, Hegar was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force through
ROTC at the
University of Texas. From April 2000 to March 2004, she served on active duty as an aircraft maintenance officer. Initially stationed at
Misawa Air Base in
Misawa,
Aomori,
Japan, she was later stationed at
Whiteman Air Force Base near
Knob Noster, Missouri. At Whiteman, Hegar worked on the
F-16 Fighting Falcon and the
B-2 Stealth Bomber. Her maintenance career culminated in responsibility for 75% of all B-2 maintenance as a captain and selection as the Company Grade Officer of the Year for 2003. In 2004, the
Air National Guard selected Hegar for pilot training. Upon completion of her training at the top of her class, she served two deployments to
Afghanistan as a
HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter pilot, flying
Combat Search and Rescue on over 100 missions as well as
Medevac missions as a helicopter pilot. As a member of the California Air National Guard, she worked as a pilot and trainer at the
San Jose-based Counterdrug Task Force from 2007 to 2011. In addition to the deployments to Afghanistan during the
Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan, Hegar flew marijuana eradication missions, suppressed wildfires with buckets of water on cargo slings, performed pilot duties in evacuating survivors from hurricane-devastated cities, and rescued civilians on civil
search and rescue missions in California and at sea. She received shrapnel wounds in her arm and leg from
Taliban ground fire, but her helicopter was able to rescue the soldiers it had been sent to help. Under further heavy fire, her helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing. Other U.S. Army helicopters rescued her, her team, and the other soldiers, but because the rescue helicopters were small and full, she and others had to fly out standing on the skids. Hegar was awarded the
Purple Heart in December 2009. She was one of the few women to receive this medal after
Amelia Earhart. In 2016, she described a 2007 mission to medevac a child in great detail in a
TEDx Talks presentation. Due to the restriction of the
Combat Exclusion Policy on women applying for ground combat positions, and because she was medically disqualified from flying due to a serious back injury sustained during the 2009 mission, Hegar transitioned out of the
Air National Guard and became a Reservist Liaison. and has served on the AFROTC Advisory Committee.
Writing In March 2017, the
Berkley Books imprint of
Penguin Books published Hegar's memoir,
Shoot Like a Girl, in a new military division called Caliber. In 2016, it was announced that the movie rights to the book had been optioned by
TriStar Pictures, with
Angelina Jolie reportedly in negotiations for the lead role.
Politics On July 6, 2017, Hegar announced that she would run for the
Democratic nomination for U.S. Representative in
Texas's 31st congressional district. In
the November election she lost to Republican incumbent
John Carter, who received 50.6% of the vote to her 47.6%; it was Carter's narrowest win in his nine elections to Congress. On April 23, 2019, Hegar announced that she was running for the Democratic nomination in the
2020 United States Senate election in Texas for the seat held by
John Cornyn. She came in first in the
March 3, 2020, primary with 22.37% of the vote, and won the July 14 runoff against
Texas state Senator Royce West, who had received 14.7% of the primary vote. Hegar's campaign received the endorsement of former president
Barack Obama on September 25, 2020. Her campaign focused on her support for the
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), protecting individuals with
preexisting conditions, and creating a
public health insurance option. Cornyn won the election, 54% to 44%. Occurring during 2020, which saw historically high turnout, Hegar received 4,888,764 votes. == Combat Exclusion Policy ==