Maria Magdalena Torres, 22, knows just how important it is to have a unique middle name.

She and her twin sister share the same first and last names and are soldiers in the same army unit, Bravo Company 341st Military Intelligence.

Torres comes from a Filipino family of six steeped in military service. Torres' father is currently on active duty for the Navy and her mother is part of the Naval Reserve. Her older brother joined the Army National Guard shortly after Torres enlisted. That leaves her younger brother as the solitary non-military member of the family, but even he has military ambitions.

"He's always wanted to join the Marines," Torres said. "But not right now. He's working full-time."

Like most children of families in the military, Torres had to relocate frequently. She lived in Guam and California for years before moving to Washington.

From sorority girl to soldier

On May 25, 2001, Torres enlisted in the National Guard at the age of 17, while she was still attending Marysville-Pilchuk High School. Torres did particularly well in high school. Aside from a good academic record, she played basketball and fastpitch and ran varsity cross-country. She also ran in the worldwide circuit relay to pass the torch for the 2000 Olympics.

After graduation, she joined the UW ROTC hoping to contract as a cadet, but she wasn't able to as a freshman. Torres also became a member of the Alpha Kappa Delta Phi, an Asian interest sorority.

"I was heavily involved at first," Torres said about her activities in Alpha Kappa Delta Phi. "We always hosted parties."

During her sophomore year at the UW, Torres's unit was activated to go to Iraq. Iraq was a huge learning experience for her, a period of darkness and redemption.

"When I got back from Iraq, my walk with God was definitely more serious," Torres said. "I stepped off the scene from partying. I didn't want the kind of lifestyle I was living before."

Today, Torres is a senior majoring in English. She is the S-5 in the UW Army ROTC, a position that requires her to plan and coordinate events to recruit and retain cadets, a job that inflames the passions of most anti-war protestors.

Torres originally joined the military with intentions other than dressing in army fatigues and bearing guns.

"Honestly, when I was 17 and got the recruiting letter, I didn't think it was the real army that I was signing up for," Torres said. "[The letter] said 'National Guard: serve your community and your country.' At that time, I was looking for something to do during the summer to rack up my community hours. This was totally not altruistic."

Torres admits she was looking for an opportunity to pad up her high school résumé for colleges.

"That was then," Torres said.

Army life

In 2004, Torres left for Iraq with her unit, a contingent of 200 soldiers. One thing she noticed was the small number of women.

"I think there were only 10 of us," Torres said.

The UW ROTC's numbers aren't that much different.

"There are only 15 contracted females in the Army ROTC Battalion," Torres confirmed. "The difference between contracted and not contracted is that they're scholarship cadets."

According to a U.S. Census press release, women make up 15 percent of American armed forces. The Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation reports more than 200,000 women serving in the military; there about 1.4 million active duty members in the US Armed Forces today.

Despite those numbers, Torres found the same level of respect given to her male peers. If anything, they were pampered more, Torres insisted about the women in her group.

"The guys from my company really looked out for me," Torres said.

Torres strongly believes her beliefs and values have changed tremendously since her deployment. As for required military service, Torres is a strong supporter.

"I think everybody should be obliged to serve their country," Torres said. "If you're a guy, I think you really should. For girls, it's a different thing."

But her first experience in the desert wasn't a pleasant one.

"When I went to Iraq, initially for the first two months, I was the RTO [Radio Transmission Operator]," Torres said. "You're in a building and you collect intel. That got really, really depressing really fast. You're getting pulled out of college, your normal life. You go to Iraq. Suddenly, it's a culture shock. I was in a sorority living the life."

Torres stayed at Camp Anaconda, 68 miles north of Baghdad, in northern Iraq, a place that earned the nickname Mortaritaville for its frequent attacks by enemy forces. The camp is located next to the city of Balad and houses 28,000 soldiers and 8,000 civilian contractors.

"We were always getting mortared [by] RPGs and rockets," Torres said. "It was hard being away from family and home. To cope with it, I immersed myself in work."

To make matters worse, Torres' commanding officer was particularly hard on her.

"Every night, I'd go back to my room and cry because he was such a jerk," Torres said.

The hardships didn't end there. During a ride from Kuwait to Iraq, Torres' convoy came under fire. Torres remembers ruined buildings whirling by her Humvee as bullets rained down on her unit.

"It was scary," Torres said. "It was a bad memory."

Humanitarian work

"In the month of August, we did a mission to distribute water to the local people," Torres said. "The country was so impoverished. These guys didn't have any clean water."

Further into her deployment, Torres suggested a plan to provide water for the local population near Camp Anaconda. Torres' role in civil affairs enabled her to conduct humanitarian efforts for the Iraqi people.

"We were finally getting them water that they could drink," Torres said. "Before, they were drinking pipe water, water with lead."

Torres helped pass out clothes and school supplies to the Iraqi community. Her group received numerous donations from private citizens, aid organizations and churches to aid needy citizens.

"It was a really good experience for me, because it was like being Santa and passing toys out to the kids," Torres said. "A bunch of people were just sending in stuff to us, telling us to give to the Iraqis."

Life today

After graduating from the UW, Torres plans to join her sister in Washington, D.C., to study law and eventually become a Judge Advocate General (JAG).

Torres doesn't see her deployment as punishment. In fact, she believes her stay in Iraq has made her a better human being. Some of her army peers didn't come back with the same mindset and outlook on life.

"I have friends whose missions were a lot safer than mine," Torres said. "But they're messed up."

Iraq was a turning point for Torres. Six months into her deployment, she felt she had reached the lowest point of her life, but today, Torres is excited about the future and about her church. Torres attributes her survival to her Christian faith.

"To remain joyful and hopeful and be at peace with everything — it's God," Torres said. "I'm not even kidding."

Reach reporter Anthony Shelley at features@thedaily.washington.edu.