From Iraq to helping Alabama veterans: Tuberville honors Ashlie Combs as September Veteran of the Month

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September 2, 2026

After serving in Iraq and experiencing the uncertainty that can come with leaving the military, Ashlie Combs found a new mission back home in Alabama — helping other veterans navigate challenges of their own.

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) recognized Combs, a U.S. Army veteran from Rainbow City, as his September Veteran of the Month for her work helping veterans, particularly those struggling with mental health.

“Veterans’ mental health is one of the most unspoken struggles our brave men and women in uniform endure after serving our country,” Tuberville said. “Many struggle silently and alone, which is why suicide has become a leading cause of death among our veterans. Combatting the mental health crisis for Alabama veterans has become the number one mission of U.S. Army Specialist Ashlie Combs of Rainbow City.”

For Combs, military service was part of her life long before she put on a uniform herself.

“We have a long history, a rich history of service to our country, all the way back to the Revolutionary War on my dad’s side of the family,” Combs said in her interview. “And my dad himself, he’s a retired sergeant major.”

She grew up attending All American Week at Fort Bragg and watching the Golden Knights parachute team at Fort McClellan. After graduating from Bay Minette High School, she enlisted in the Army in 2003, a decision influenced by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In 2007, Combs deployed to Iraq, where Tuberville said her team carried out multiple search-and-rescue missions to ensure no soldier was left behind.

For Combs, one of the lasting parts of military service was the bond formed by people working together toward the same goal.

“Just having a bond with people and understanding that, OK, we have a mission to be done and we have to put our differences aside and come together and get this mission done at all costs, no matter what,” she said.

Service came with sacrifices, she acknowledged, but they were sacrifices she would not take back.

“I wouldn’t take any of those sacrifices and change them,” Combs said. “Because we have the country we have today because of men and women who served and our founding fathers.”

Combs and her husband eventually returned to Alabama, where she had to figure out what came next after military life.

“Transitioning out is, there’s a lot of what ifs,” Combs said. “You don’t know what to do next and everything.”

She found part of that answer by getting involved with other veterans. Combs began volunteering locally and became active with the American Legion and VFW.

That involvement eventually led someone to introduce her to the Veterans Treatment Court — and to work that would become an important part of her life.

Tuberville said Combs has since spent countless hours helping veterans through the treatment court, working to see them through treatment from beginning to end. Along the way, she began seeing the need for greater access to mental health care for veterans.

Her commitment eventually took her back to school. Combs earned a graduate degree in counseling from Auburn University so she could make helping veterans her full-time work.

Her goal is to bridge the gap between mental health care and the affordability of that care for veterans who need it.

September is Suicide Prevention Month, and Tuberville said Combs represents the difference veterans can make when they use their own experiences to help others.

“We are fortunate to have veterans like Ashlie who use their experience to help veterans struggling with their mental health,” Tuberville said. “It is my honor to recognize Ashlie Combs as the September ‘Veteran of the Month.’”