Branch Served:
- North Dakota Army National Guard (6 years)
Q: What was deployment like?
A: I deployed to Kosovo in 2000, and we were gone for about seven months. I went from being a newlywed full-time college student to a full-time soldier working in construction. My squad constructed sea huts for Camp bond steel, poured bridge embankments outside the wire, and pulled guard duty.
Kosovo is gorgeous. Each morning I got to wake up to the stunning view of Ljuboten, a peak in the mountain range between Kosovo and Macedonia. When we arrived in the country, it was January, and we worked through a summer heat wave before going home.
My husband transferred units to deploy with us. So, that was a unique experience. We lived in different buildings with other members of our platoon. We would go to the chow hall together each night if we were both back from our respective job sites. After we were there for several months, a USO center was formed so we could go see movies on the weekends and any comedy acts or bands that visited.
Q: What was your first job after service and what was that experience like?
A: After the deployment, I started working as a phlebotomist at what is now the downtown Sanford Hospital in Fargo. I’d work a shift in the early morning before classes started, and then I worked the night shift on the weekends. The job could be challenging, but I enjoyed the hospital environment, and I appreciated living on my own schedule again.
About Lisa Elijah
Lisa Elijah was born and raised in North Dakota. She joined the National Guard after high school and returned home in time to be activated for the flood of 1997. She met her husband during that time, and now they live together outside of Mandan with two of their four kids. Their oldest child goes to college in Wyoming and the next oldest plays volleyball for a college in Maine.
Years ago, after Elijah’s third child was born, she left her career as a public health microbiologist to stay home but would pick up part-time work with clinic labs. Eventually, she traded in her lab coat for a laptop and started writing romance books. Once she finished her first book, she never looked back. In December, it’ll be ten years since Elijah published my first book.
Q: Did you have any struggles after returning to civilian life?
A: I wasn’t on active duty, so the biggest struggle of returning to civilian life was after the deployment. I was already delayed a semester because of basic training and AIT, and the deployment set me back another semester. Since I wasn’t on a normal four-year track, I had to figure out how and when to get all the credits I needed to keep from taking even longer to graduate.
