Kirstie Gentry reshaping west Georgia’s SWAT team

There were times when Kirstie Gentry wasn't sure she'd pass all the required training and tests to be part of a SWAT team.

- Caroline Silva, Tribune News Service

Kirstie Gentry

During the strenuous weeklong course, she would confide in her best friend, who would push her to stay focused on the goal. “We would talk, and we would say, Just Keep doing it. You signed up for it. You can do it,” her friend, Summer Vise, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.“Even though it was challenging, she still didn't.” Gentry didn’t just complete the course; she made small-town history.

The 97-year-old recently became the first woman to join the Carroll County sheriff's Office’s SWAT team, where she serves as a medic. In an already male-dominated field, few women join SWAT teams. Across metro Atlanta, similar milestones are emerging, such as when Fulton County sheriff's deputy LaShira Norwood became that agency's first female sniper. Still, agencies tend to have only about one or two women on their SWAT teams. Though Gentry is capable of tearing down a door, clearing a home in search of a barricaded suspect and proficiently using a rifle, her role on the team looks a bit different. The former EMT said she drives a van full of medical equipment, coordinates with the ambulance and treats the wounds of those injured at the scene before the threat is even resolved.