Melissa L. Culbreth (b. 1974) has served in the North Carolina Army National Guard from 2006 to present (as of 2016). Melissa L. Culbreth was born 14 August 1974, in Smithfield, North Carolina. As an adolescent she worked with the Civil Air Patrol, before being awarded a scholarship to Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina. In 1996, Culbreth earned an undergraduate degree from the Campbell University Divinity School, and in 1998, while working at a Raleigh bookstore she met her husband, who was a part-time member of the National Guard. In December 2000, Culbreth obtained a Master of Divinity degree. Through her husband's deployments, Culbreth saw the needs of National Guard soldiers and their families, and after completing her Civilian Clinical Pastoral Education, or civilian chaplaincy training, at WakeMed Health and Hospital in 2006, she decided to join the North Carolina National Guard. In June 2007, Culbreth attended the Chaplain Basic Officer Leader Course at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where she completed Chaplain Initial Military Training, performed physical training, or PT, and learned land navigation. In March 2008, Culbreth volunteered as a full-time chaplain. In November 2008, she attended a two-week Warfighter training course at Fort Fisher National Guard Training Center in Kure Beach, North Carolina, and then spent time training at Forward Operating Base Patriot at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In March 2009, Culbreth went to Fort Irwin National Training Center in the Mojave Desert, California, where she was the chaplain for the Brigade Support Battalion and the Brigade Special Troops Battalion. After returning to North Carolina, Culbreth deployed to Camp Buehring in Kuwait in April 2009. After three weeks, she was assigned as the chaplain to Forward Operating Base Falcon in Iraq, where she delivered convoy prayers and American Red Cross messages to soldiers. She also assisted as the chaplain for the medical facility and mortuary affairs, saying final prayers for the deceased. In December 2009, during a self-examination, Culbreth detected a lump on top of her left breast. She received an ultrasound at Sather Air Force Base Combat Surgical Hospital in Iraq, where doctors gave her a preliminary diagnosis of cancer. She was medevaced to the Contingency Aeromedical Staging Facility at Balad Air Base, Iraq, and then to Landstuhl Air Force Base in Germany, before being sent to Womack Army Medical Center at Fort Bragg, where she entered the Warrior Transition Unit. A subsequent biopsy found the lump to be cancerous, and Culbreth underwent a mastectomy in January 2010.
