MICHELE NORRIS, host:
We're hearing from soldiers in their own words this week as part of our series The Span of War. Today we meet a 23-year-old female soldier from Woodbridge, Virginia.
First Lieutenant LAUREN ROE (US Army): My name is First Lieutenant Lauren Roe. I'm a military police platoon leader that supports the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division.
I met my fiance freshman year at the Military Academy up at West Point, so we were dating the entire four years, and we both chose Ft. Stewart, so we ended up at Ft. Stewart together. When I first got there, I deployed immediately. I came here. So it was a little nerve-racking being here by myself, not really knowing anyone. So now this rotation, it's nice to know that he's here, but as a transportation officer, he's out on the roads every day. That's a little nerve-racking.
Every now and then he'll make runs down here, and I'll get to talk to him, and we'll get to have lunch for a few minutes. And that's always nice, to kind of catch up. And knowing that, you know, if I throw out an acronym, he knows exactly what I'm talking about because he's in the Army, too. And he understands kind of, you know, fears and, you know, just every--daily life, like, what it's like to be deployed.
It's good that he's here and that I can talk to him and kind of bounce ideas off of him, but it's still nerve-racking knowing that, you know, if I do see him, it's after he's, you know, driven this convoy along all these routes with possible threats. So--I know that he's trained. I know that he knows what he's doing. And every time he goes out on the road, he's going to be doing those things that's going to keep himself and his soldiers safe. And that's all we can really do. I mean, things are going to happen, but if you're doing everything right, then you can eliminate those mistakes that could occur. So I know that he--I mean, he's smart. He's a good lieutenant, so he knows what he's doing.
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NORRIS: That's First Lieutenant Lauren Roe from the Army's 3rd Infantry Division. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.