Kayla Williams served in the U.S. Army as an Arabic linguist for five years. She was deployed to Iraq from 2003 to 2004. 

Officially, women at the time were barred from direct ground combat, based on a 1994 Defense Department ruling. But because there were so few Arabic speakers in the military, Williams ended up joining her male colleagues on patrol in Baghdad.

More from Williams:

Love My Rifle More Than You

Plenty of Time When We Get Home

I Serve is a production from Foreign Policy and With Honor.

For more stories of heroism, check out Courage Can Save Us, a new book from With Honor CEO and co-founder Rye Barcott, available now.

And for more information on the Robert Irvine Foundation, click here.

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