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"PinterestFacebookNikki Perazzoli, 25&amp;#8212; Army First Lieutenant; Katie LoFranco, 26&amp;#8212; Army Captain; Lorraine Gunther, 27&amp;#8212; Army Captain\nNikki Perazzoli, 25&amp;#8212; Army First Lieutenant; Katie LoFranco, 26&amp;#8212; Army Captain; Lorraine Gunther, 27&amp;#8212; Army Captain\nIn the last eight years, some 216,000 women (a record) have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they&amp;#39;re returning, and they&amp;#39;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?\nThat&amp;#39;s what Captain Katie LoFranco, 27, had on her mind when she wrote Glamour last November: &amp;quot;The slow death of femininity that takes place\u2026in this job and in this uniform has taken its toll\u2026. 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;quot;\nYes! 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;#8212;home after 15 months in Iraq&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;#39;s like to finally come home.\nNikki: 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;quot;army stuff&amp;quot; like college days, relationships and our nervousness about deploying.\nKatie: Lorraine and I were thrown together in Iraq, and at first it was unclear whether we&amp;#39;d be perfunctory &amp;quot;Hi, how was your day?&amp;quot; roommates or the &amp;quot;Let&amp;#39;s watch movies in our PJs!&amp;quot; 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;#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.\nLorraine: 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;#8212;mine was pink!\nKatie: I&amp;#39;m very proud of the uniform, don&amp;#39;t get me wrong, but it&amp;#39;s shapeless and drab. You don&amp;#39;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.\nNikki: 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.\nLorraine: I missed being able to decompress by taking a bath. In Iraq there is no haven. There is always something you are stressed about.\nNikki: 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;#39;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;#39;t sure about it&amp;#8212;he thought we needed to get to know each other again. We fought over it.\nLorraine: Going home is almost as nerve-wracking as being deployed. There are so many unknowns. We ended up living together at Katie&amp;#39;s house, so that helped with the transition a lot. Now Katie and I are back in Kentucky, and Nikki is stationed in Maryland.\nKatie: There was a bit of a panic about returning to civilian life. I didn&amp;#39;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.\nLorraine: My first pedicure was purple, too! Everything in Iraq was so gray. I notice color everywhere now.\nKatie: 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.\nNikki: I bought a house. Hanging pictures is heaven! And my boyfriend moved in. All of the things I wanted have happened.\nLorraine: 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.\nKatie: 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.\nNikki: When I tell people, &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;m in the Army,&amp;quot; I&amp;#39;m proud. I feel good about what I&amp;#39;ve done.\nLorraine: It&amp;#39;s an awesome responsibility&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;#39;t been before. Ultimately, the deployment taught us a lot about ourselves and proved one thing we already knew about women&amp;#8212;we&amp;#39;re always there for each other."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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