As a combat veteran, I know the cost of war.

It is clear that there needs to be a closer working relationship between the United States and India. How can we have a close relationship if decision-makers in Washington know very little, if anything, about the religious beliefs, values, and practices of India's 800 million Hindus?

I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster - close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were.

I am a military police officer and I have served on two deployments; my first was to Iraq, in a medical unit, and my second deployment was to Kuwait, as a military police platoon leader.

These days, it's often women in uniform - moms, wives, even grandmothers - who deploy and leave their families behind.

Hawaii is a special place because we have a very diverse population there, who are very respectful and tolerant of those who have differing opinions and different views.