These days, it's often women in uniform - moms, wives, even grandmothers - who deploy and leave their families behind.

I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster - close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were.

When I started my campaign for Congress, I was one who people said, 'Tulsi, you have a bright future, but there's no way you can win.'

Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views.

I am a military police officer and I have served on two deployments; my first was to Iraq, in a medical unit, and my second deployment was to Kuwait, as a military police platoon leader.

I chose to take the oath of office with my personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita because its teachings have inspired me to be a servant-leader, dedicating my life in the service of others and to my country.