Lilliam Bernal

27, Trenton
Second Lieutenant, Army National Guard
Deployed to Iraq Winter 2005

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Published: Jul 1, 2009

Lilliam Bernal
27, Trenton 
Second Lieutenant, Army National Guard 
Deployed to Iraq Winter 2005

The daughter of Dominican immigrants, Lilliam Bernal joined the National Guard with her best friend, on something resembling a whim. "I didn't talk to my mom, I didn't consult with my boyfriend," she says, "I just went and did it." She eased her mother's subsequent concerns by telling her about the money for college, the limited time commitment (one weekend a month), and the fact that the [New Jersey] National Guard hadn't been deployed since World War II. "But," she says, "two years later we were being mobilized."

Bernal's best friend ended up staying behind because of her asthma — in fact, quite a few members of her unit didn't deploy because of health issues. Bernal was "disappointed," she says, but thinks this was for the best. "You need people to watch your back over there whose hearts are in it."

The bonds Bernal ended up forming with her unit in Iraq led her to rethink her life plans. She went to school to become a military officer, and now hopes to move from a part-time stateside position to a full-time job in Afghanistan. She will volunteer to join the next deployable unit from the area. "I want to take control on a day-to-day basis," she says, "not just one weekend a month."

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