Tanya Bradsher felt a rush of relief each morning when the updates came in letting her know how many U.S. troops were left in Iraq.
Each time the number ticked closer to zero, it meant more of her fellow veterans had made their final trip out of Iraq safely. Her biggest fear was that the remaining U.S. troops would get hit on their way out. She would hold her breath and think, "today is a good day, tomorrow hopefully will be a good day."
Sunday was the day Bradsher, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, had been waiting for. The last of all U.S. troops in Iraq safely crossed the border into Kuwait, bringing the divisive war to a close.
Bradsher, a lieutenant colonel in the Army, witnessed the war's final days from a unique vantage point. The soft-spoken mother of three is one of several Iraq war veterans now working in the White House, helping President Barack Obama bring the war that defined them to a close.
In transitioning from the battlefield to the White House, they have given the war a face and voice in West Wing, serving as a constant reminder that, for a small percentage of Americans, the long, divisive conflict has also been a matter of life and death.
