My name is Dr. Kate Hendricks Thomas, and I am a public health professional whose research focuses on the well-being of military-connected women. Long before I became an academic, I was a Marine Corps Military Police Officer. I served from 2002-2012 in garrison commands, overseas in Iraq, and aboard Parris Island, the training command where the Marine Corps makes Marines. I loved the Marine Corps; it was my identity, and Marines are my people. Unfortunately, I did not know that my military service came with significant risks of toxic exposure. In 2005, as I ran laps around the burn pit in Fallujah, I never imagined that I would be diagnosed with a terminal cancer before I turned 40.