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"In the last eight years, some 216,000 women (a record) have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they&amp;amp;#8217;re returning, and they&amp;amp;#8217;ve got lots of questions: Should I stay in the military? Where should I live? Will things be the same with family and friends? And, um, what will I wear? That&amp;amp;#8217;s what Captain Katie LoFranco, 27, had on her mind when she wrote Glamour last November: &amp;amp;#8220;The slow death of femininity that takes place&amp;amp;#8230;in this job and in this uniform has taken its toll&amp;amp;#8230;. I do not remember how to put on makeup, do my hair in anything other than a bun, or coordinate civilian clothing. Can you find it in your hearts to help?&amp;amp;#8221; Yes! No one deserves a makeover more than a returning soldier. We glammed up Katie, along with Captain Lorraine Gunter and First Lieutenant Nikki Perazzoli&amp;amp;#8212;home after 15 months in Iraq&amp;amp;#8212;with new haircuts, makeup and dresses. Then we sat down to hear how they got through the war, what they missed and what it&amp;amp;#8217;s like to finally come home. Nikki: Katie and I were stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, before we went off to Iraq in September 2007. We realized we had a lot in common and could talk about topics other than &amp;amp;#8220;army stuff&amp;amp;#8221; like college days, relationships and our nervousness about deploying. Katie: Lorraine and I were thrown together in Iraq, and at first it was unclear whether we&amp;amp;#8217;d be perfunctory &amp;amp;#8220;Hi, how was your day?&amp;amp;#8221; roommates or the &amp;amp;#8220;Let&amp;amp;#8217;s watch movies in our PJs!&amp;amp;#8221; kind. Thankfully, we turned out to be the latter. I was lonely. My husband, Ryan, was flying Black Hawks in Afghanistan. You get to a point where being a woman is your fantasy life. I did a lot of online shopping for things that made no sense. I got a pair of white heels&amp;amp;#8212;completely impractical. I would wear them in my room, just prance around a little. I think I cleaned my quarters with them on a couple of times. Lorraine: It is sad when your pajamas are a source of self-expression. The Army has rules for everything, even your watch. I broke that rule, though&amp;amp;#8212;mine was pink! Katie: I&amp;amp;#8217;m very proud of the uniform, don&amp;amp;#8217;t get me wrong, but it&amp;amp;#8217;s shapeless and drab. You don&amp;amp;#8217;t have any body concept after a while. You have to stand on the bed and look into the lone mirror on the wall to see even a bit of your body. Nikki: It does get old wearing the same uniform every day, but I would do little things to feel good about myself. Like put on perfume or eyeliner. Lorraine: I missed being able to decompress by taking a bath. In Iraq there is no haven. There is always something you are stressed about. Nikki: Misery loves company, and I think that is why you make some of your best friends in the Army. Iraq could have broken me, but it didn&amp;amp;#8217;t, because of Lorraine and Nikki. The hardest part was the last few months. I wanted my boyfriend, who is not in the Army, to commit to moving in with me when I got back. He wasn&amp;amp;#8217;t sure about it&amp;amp;#8212;he thought we needed to get to know each other again. We fought over it. Lorraine: Going home is almost as nerve-wracking as being deployed. There are so many unknowns. We ended up living together at Katie&amp;amp;#8217;s house, so that helped with the transition a lot. Now Katie and I are back in Kentucky, and Nikki is stationed in Maryland. Katie: There was a bit of a panic about returning to civilian life. I didn&amp;amp;#8217;t feel feminine at all. My husband and I have a running joke about my lack of skirts. I finally bought one to meet him in when he came home a month after me, and he was thrilled! Nikki and I also got pedicures immediately. Mine was OPI Kinki in Helsinki, a bright purple. Lorraine: My first pedicure was purple, too! Everything in Iraq was so gray. I notice color everywhere now. Katie: For me, the best part of being home is Ryan. Being able to hold his hand and walk down the street, or smell his smell instead of just imagining it. Nikki: I bought a house. Hanging pictures is heaven! And my boyfriend moved in. All of the things I wanted have happened. Lorraine: An amazing thing about being home is breathing. In Iraq I never felt consciously afraid, though I knew I was in danger. But when I stepped off the plane and exhaled, I realized the fear had been there. Katie: The utter human frailty and loneliness you experience while deployed would bring anyone to their knees. But I think it does bring your priorities into focus. Nikki: When I tell people, &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;m in the Army,&amp;amp;#8221; I&amp;amp;#8217;m proud. I feel good about what I&amp;amp;#8217;ve done. Lorraine: It&amp;amp;#8217;s an awesome responsibility&amp;amp;#8212;you are doing something bigger than yourself. In many ways, this war changed things for women in the military. We were on the battlefield, present in a way we hadn&amp;amp;#8217;t been before. Ultimately, the deployment taught us a lot about ourselves and proved one thing we already knew about women&amp;amp;#8212;we&amp;amp;#8217;re always there for each other."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2009/09/the-back-from-iraq-makeover/1>