Lopez, a first class private and heavy equipment operator, went on her second assignment overseas in January of last year, when her unit was assigned to reconstruct Baghdad?s airport. Her first assignment was in Grafenwoehr, Germany. ?Life in the US Army is not very different from life in the BDF,? Lopez commented. ?I am a very outgoing and friendly person. I get along very well with other people, and this has helped me a lot. ?However, life in Iraq ?it?s crazy over there! You?re always thinking about home and you?re in a safety zone, but anything can happen, so you don?t know if you?ll live to see tomorrow. ?I had three accidents since being stationed in Iraq. I was almost killed in the first accident, when four landmines went off as I drove my Humvee in an area of Baghdad. I was in the hospital for about two weeks. In the next accident, a man armed with a lighted bottle of lighter fluid threw the bottle at my Humvee, but armed soldiers in the vehicle with me at the time managed to put him down. In the third incident, I managed to escape unhurt as the driver of a bulldozer, the really big ones used for heavy demolition, didn?t see us, and swung at us.? Although army life is very demanding, Lopez said, she still finds time for her hobbies, which include basketball, soccer, riding, dancing, sewing, and knitting. Lopez will return to the US on August 19, but will spend a week with family in Reno, Nevada, before returning to Fort Lewis in Seattle, Washington, where she is presently stationed. Lopez said that her unit will either return to Iraq, or will be sent to Afghanistan in November of this year.
