E. Cindi Basenspiler was born on 25 March, 1970 in Murom, Russia. When she was about a year and a half old she moved to Baku, or Azerbaijan, Russia to live with her grandmother, before moving to the United States with her parents at the age of seven. In 1997 Basenspiler's family settled in Houston, Texas for four years, and then spent the next several years moving around various parts of the country, including Minnesota, Illinois, and Alabama. Basenspiler attended DeKalb High School in Alabama and then the University of South Alabama, Mobile.

In 1988, during her first semester at college, she enlisted in the United States Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), where she excelled and was given the opportunity to attend Airborne School in Fort Benning, Georgia. Basenspiler earned her Air Force wings [aviator badge] but then decided to return to the United States Army. She attended basic training as an enlisted soldier in the National Guard ROTC, and chose Transportation Management Coordinator as her Military Occupational Specialty, working as a liaison between the army and air force during deployments.

Basenspiler then attended Advanced Individual Training, and in June 1993 she trained as a pilot and transitioned to active duty. Before beginning aviation training, Basenspiler was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where she worked as a platoon leader for ROTC cadets. She was then sent to Fort Rucker, Alabama for flight school, working alongside West Point Military Academy cadets, and learning to fly a Boeing Chinook helicopter. After graduating and receiving her wings, Basenspiler was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where she was designated a maintenance platoon leader. She attended an officer's advanced course at Fort Rucker, before being deployed to Camp Humphreys, South Korea for eight months.

Basenspiler was then assigned to United States Army Garrison Yongsan in South Korea for two years, where she commanded a headquarters battalion. Basenspiler was then sent to Fort Carson, Colorado, working as an equal opportunity advisor, and after realizing she wanted to get out of the military, she enrolled herself in a Master of Business Administration program.

On 11 September 2001, Basenspiler was in Atlanta, Georgia for a junior military officer conference, interviewing with prospective non-military employers, when Islamic terrorists hijacked four passenger planes, eventually crashing two into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and one into a Pennsylvania field. Although she had already committed to leaving the army, Basenspiler felt disappointed and guilty for not being able to stay in for the reason she had joined the military. Basenspiler began a job with Lutron Electronics in December 2001, but was dissatisfied, and she left after a year.

She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she married and had two children. In 2010, she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, started volunteering with the veterans services charity Charlotte Bridge Home, and helped to organize a monthly networking luncheon for veterans.