Martha McSally

Martha McSally is a retired United States Air Force Colonel and politician who is currently a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first American woman to fly in combat following the 1991 lifting of the prohibition of women in combat, flying the A10 over Iraq and Kuwait during Operation Southern Watch. She is the first woman to command a USAF fighter squadron, the 354th Fighter Squadron based at DavisMonthan Air Force Base.

McSally was born in 1966 in Warwick, Rhode Island, the youngest of five children. In 1978, her father, Bernard, a lawyer, died of a heart attack. Her mother, Eleanor, worked as a reading specialist to support the family.

Source: Wikipedia