Kristine Grace Poirier (b. 1976), of Fort Jackson, South Carolina, served as a quartermaster in the United States Army from 1998-2006. From 2003-2004 she was deployed to Al Taji, Iraq. Kristine Grace Poirier was born 3 May 1976 in Fort Jackson, South Carolina. In 1994, during Poirier's freshman year of college at Washington State University, she joined the United States Army Reserve Officers' Training Course. She received a three year scholarship, and committed to four years of active duty service and four years with the reserves. Poirier was commissioned on 8 May 1998, sent to Officer Preparatory Course at Fort Lee, Virginia, for four months, and upon completion received the job of quartermaster. She then deployed immediately to Camp Hovey in Korea, where she was given command of a fuel platoon and tasked with missions moving fuel to Camp Greaves, near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). In 2000, Poirier was assigned to Fort Story, Virginia, and was in charge of the 19th Quartermaster Company, a petroleum platoon. After the terrorist events on 11 September 2001, Poirier received orders to the Port of Agami in Egypt. She began a new position as food service officer, and was in charge of serving not only American military units, but Italian, English, and German as well. She returned to Fort Story in Spring 2002. In 2003, after having been promoted to captain, Poirier was assigned to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where she worked in S-1 Personnel, performing administrative duties directly for a colonel. She was then promoted to company commander, and sent overseas at the end of 2003, first to Kuwait for training by 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta [Delta Force], and then to Camp Taji in Iraq. After returning to Schofield Barracks, Poirier married her husband Mike, another soldier she'd met before her deployment to Iraq. In 2005, Poirier received orders to Fort Irwin National Training Center in California, where she worked in S1 for the first six months, before being named Support Operations Officer. In 2006, Poirier became pregnant and, after the birth of her daughter, decided to resign her commission. Her husband then received orders to Fort Bragg and they moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Poirier soon began experiencing postpartum depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and decided to seek assistance from the Veterans Administration (VA) in 2007.
