Student veteran Alexis Taylor said joining the military and serving in Iraq was one of the best experiences of her life.

“I would do it again if I had the choice,” said Taylor, junior in communication studies. “Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I think I’ve made.”

Taylor said she joined because she was looking for a way to pay for college, and a recruiter suggested the military.

“I joined when I was 17,” she said. “My dad had been in the reserves, and he really liked his time in.”

Taylor joined the Army Reserve and was assigned to the 389th Engineers unit of Dubuque as a specialist. Her unit was sent to Iraq in May 2003.

“When we hit ground, we convoyed 18 hours from Kuwait to Iraq,” Taylor said.

She said when her unit got to Baghdad, its camp consisted of an open field.

“We went about three weeks without a tent or any sort of necessities,” Taylor said.

She said tents were considered less necessary than things that would allow the camp to function, so they were built last. Instead, the unit slept on cots under its trucks to avoid the 130-degree heat and the blistering desert sun.

“We had to build the showers before we could take them,” Taylor said. “I flushed one toilet in the whole year I was there.”

Her cousin, Theresa Taylor, senior in sociology, said her family was as supportive as possible.

“I’m pretty sure there isn’t a day that went by that she didn’t get something in the mail,” Theresa said. “She sent us a couple video tapes; I think we watched them 15 or 20 times.”

Taylor returned to Iowa in May 2004. She said her service has taught her to be disciplined and given her life more direction.

“Getting back, I’m a lot more serious about school and life goals,” Taylor said.

She said she now appreciates the things we take for granted.

“Seeing how bad the people in Iraq have it, it will just blow your mind to see the way they live,” she said. “It gives great appreciation for everything we have over here.”

Theresa said her cousin’s service has changed the way she thinks about veterans.

“I thought of the older men that served in World War I or World War II,” she said.