Vanessa Schieber

Vanessa (Brown) Schieber enlisted in the Army in April 2007 and served for the next 11 years a member of the 101st Airborne Division and later the 1st Armor Division.

Schieber’s first deployment came in 2008, as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In September 2008, while working with a Service and Recovery Team, Schieber was traveling along the road as part of a convoy through Mosul, when the convoy was ambushed, and she was shot in her upper torso, causing several rib fractures and a collapsed lung. After an initial scare when Iraqi Nationals started dragging her away, she discovered they were friendly and rendered her with first aid. Schieber was subsequently flown to Landstuhl, Germany, for surgery and recovery.

She deployed to Iraq again in 2010. In December 2016, SSG Schieber was deployed to Asadabad, Afghanistan, as part of Operation Freedom Sentinel. On December 30, 2016, the convoy she was traveling struck an IED, and the vehicle Schieber was in flipped on its side with the driver and SSG Schieber being crushed in the cabin. She was again flown to Germany, this time with injuries to her spine. SSG Schieber had 9 broken vertebrae that had to be stabilized by 10 screws, plates, two rods, spacers, and bone cement. It took over a year for her to recover to a point where she could walk and function again. SSG Schieber was medically retired and honorably discharged on July 18, 2018.

Along with her two Purple Hearts, SSG Schieber was awarded numerous medals and commendations during her service, including the Combat Action Badge, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Afghanistan Campaign medal with Campaign Star, Iraq Campaign Medal w/2 Campaign stars, and more.

U.S. Army SSG Vanessa Schieber Ph.D. represented her fellow Purple Heart heroes as Pennsylvania’s honoree during the 2023 Purple Heart Patriot Project Mission.