In honor of Veteran’s Day, BFCU would like to spotlight our current member, Stephanie Villegas-Hoag. Cpt. Villegas-Hoag has her mortgage with BFCU which she refinanced 2 years ago in what she described as “an amazing experience, very painless” and she appreciated the personal attention she received during an often-complicated process.

Stephanie currently serves as a Boston Police Officer stationed in Dorchester, but before that she spent 8 years in the US Military where she saw tours of duty in Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Jordan. After joining ROTC in college, she was commissioned in 2010 where she spent her first 3 years as a military nurse on the surgical floor. In 2013 she joined the Cultural Support Team program which was an all-female team that would perform civil outreach with middle eastern women to understand the lives and situations of citizens living in a warzone. She would assist units such as the 74^th Ranger Regiment in high priority missions almost exclusively dealing with high priority targets.

She would then spend 4 years in Special Operations (civil affairs) before finally returning home in 2018. As with many soldiers returning home, recirculating into civilian life presented Stephanie with challenges and she would experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after spending close to a decade exposed to worst of what warfare can provide. She considers herself lucky to have returned home to Massachusetts where medical resources for mental health are more readily available than in other states and the stigma around seeking help is not as prevalent. This Veteran’s Day and beyond, Stephanie hopes that her fellow veterans seek help if that need and, “to know that it’s 100% okay for them to get help too.”    

Boston is lucky to have as experienced an officer patrolling our streets and we thank Stephanie for exemplifying what it means to serve with respect.