After more than five years at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, I was ashamed to admit that I didn’t know anyone personally who had served in the military. Mentally, I knew we were at war. I read the newspapers, saw the lists of casualties, but I had no emotional connection or understanding of what was going on so far away from my daily American life…until this past weekend when I had the honor of being invited to spend three days with the Army as they trained at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA.

I, along with close friend and photographer Maria Schriber, volunteered through the Public Affairs Office to pose as journalists to help train the troops for the media attention they will encounter in Iraq. No one, aside from the civilians in the Public Affairs Office, knew that we weren’t actual members of the press. Upon arriving we were posed with the challenge of choosing a magazine or news outlet to represent and coming up with a story to interview for and then report back on–with the goal of getting an interview with the highest ranking commander. With Maria as the photographer, the reporting and interviewing was left up to me. I quickly discovered I had a lot of ground to cover since my lack of prior contact with the military left me without a clue as to how everything was organized. I didn’t know the difference between a battalion (300 to 1,000 Soldiers–or troops) and a brigade (up to 5,000 troops comprised of three to five battalions), a platoon (about 40 Soldiers) and a company (62 to 190 Soldiers and three to five platoons). Thankfully I had plenty of organizational questions to ask while I scrambled to invent the real story I was after.

After seeing one of the constructed Iraqi villages on the training grounds and witnessing an exercise in what is called the “trauma lane,” I chose to do a story for Good Magazine, reporting on the differences between the tactical training and the cultural training, or as the army refers to it–kinesthetic versus non-kinesthetic training–the troops were receiving.

I spent the most time in the village of Medina Wasl. It is populated by what the Public Affairs Office refers to as the “Barstow 300.” In order to make the village more realistic for the Soldiers, the Army has hired role players from Barstow (the nearest town to the Fort) to play Iraqi citizens. These role players are led by a group of Iraqi nationals from around the country who come in and teach Iraqi cultural classes to the troops. Soldiers and role players alike learn a small amount of Arabic as well as the country’s customs. Walking around Wasl I heard more Arabic than English. I was greeted with “mahaba” and “salaam” and encouraged to barter for electronics and produce.

I was also impressed to discover that the villages are all constructed out of recycled shipping cargo containers–large corrugated metal boxes that are then designed to look like homes or stores or even hotels that one might find in Iraq. Fort Irwin itself is also on its way to using only sustainable energy sources. There is already a huge insulated foam dome in use as well as solar and wind power.

Maria and I spent our first night at a FOB (forward operating base) with a battalion from Fort Hood, TX. Each company in the battalion had its own tent or barracks. Our tent housed a mixed gender company and although we were sleeping on the same army green cots as the Soldiers we stuck out like two sore thumbs in our brightly colored sleeping bags. The troops were all incredibly serious and disciplined during their training rotations, but once in the tent, the atmosphere was more like that of a summer camp. One of the most striking aspects of the Army is the youth of its Soldiers. The majority of the Soldiers and officers I encountered were in their early 20s, so it should have been no surprise to see singing, laughing, joking, wrestling and even some awkward flirtation back in the tent.

Out in the field I was startled to see how mature and composed these “kids” could be. No matter who I was speaking with–whether it was a captain or a private–I was treated with the same amount of respect and my questions were all met with thoughtful and articulate answers. A majority of the Soldiers I spoke with had never been to Iraq, but those who had, spoke about the changes in the direction of the war from one tour to the next. The beginning of the war had been mostly based around tactical missions, but now the troops are working more closely with the Iraqi people, setting up infrastructure in the villages and bringing safety and security to towns. It is essential for the Soldiers to be able to communicate with the citizens which includes not only speaking in Arabic, but also approaching people without offending them.

The National Training Center at Fort Irwin is unique in that it accurately replicates situations that the troops will encounter in Iraq. There is a seamlessness to their tactical and cultural training here. In one exercise a car bomb goes off in the street and both civilians and soldiers are injured. Gun fire (all blank rounds), smoke, screaming, and injured men, women, and children (complete with prosthetics and fake blood) fill the streets. The Soldiers have to secure the area, firing back at the insurgents, as well as tending to the injured and asking bystanders for information. According to those who have seen the real Iraq, the differences here are slight.

After each training session, the companies are broken down into their platoons and undergo a debriefing. Each group of Soldiers is then shown a video as well as photographic slide show of their training and asked to review their actions, identifying their successes as well as their shortcomings. This meeting is led by an Observer Controller (an experienced training officer from Fort Irwin who has overseen their mission). I was impressed to see the forward-thinking educational methods the O.C.s enlisted. Their conversation struck me as very collegiate as the Soldiers were asked to come up with possible solutions to the problems they encountered. I had previously thought the Army had a very top down approach to their training and I was pleased to see the Soldiers here encouraged to problem-solve and think for themselves.

The three days I spent at the National Training Center were incredibly eye-opening. I went expecting to be immersed in some strange alternate reality as the military and Iraq both seemed so foreign and inaccessible to me as an American citizen. Instead, I found people, Soldiers, civilians, and Iraqis alike, all working hard to bring safety, peace and cultural understanding to a terrorized and impoverished region. I was surprised to realize how easy it was for me to judge or fear that of which I had no real understanding. I returned to my civilian life in Los Angeles with a deeper awareness of the military, their goals and philosophies, and a renewed compassion and gratitude for the men and women who dedicate and risk their lives not only for the security of the United States, but also for the stability of the world.