Associated Press Writer

Last spring, Sarah Bouret was preparing for her final year of studies at the University of North Dakota.

After more than six months in Iraq, the 23-year-old North Dakota Army National Guard specialist said she misses the carefree life of a college student.

"When we first got activated, I was like most younger people. I couldn't believe this was happening to us," Bouret said in a phone interview Saturday. "I think most people here have really changed and grown up a lot."

Bouret, from Bismarck, has been in the Middle East since April with the Fargo-based 142nd Engineer Battalion. She is a media specialist, reporting on the unit's missions and compiling a yearbook to document its deployment.

Bouret said that duty in Iraq has changed her.

"I think I've grown up a lot. I think I appreciate life more," she said.

Bouret accompanied troops from the 142nd to Baghdad this summer as they repaired schools, hospitals and other buildings and cleaned up debris and trash clogging the city's streets. She said the reaction of Iraqis was memorable.

"They always want to hug you, touch you, shake your hand," she said. "All of the children give you thumbs up. A lot of smiles."

Not everyone smiled. Bouret said the lack medical care available to injured and ill Iraqis was sobering.

The unit first met with hostile fire when it moved from Kuwait to a military installation near Balad, 45 miles north of Baghdad, in late April.

Later, mortar attacks at the base came almost nightly.

"You become really accustomed to it," she said. "It's been getting worse, unfortunately, as the war has gone on."

About 800 North Dakota Guard soldiers now are deployed in Iraq with the 142nd and the Bismarck-based 957th Multi-Role Bridge Company.

Officials have not designated a specific return date but have said the units should return home next spring.

"It's a little frustrating," Bouret said.

Bouret flew home earlier this month after drawing a 15-day leave that allowed her to celebrate her birthday with family in Bismarck.

Her mother, Betty Leingang, said the visit was "bittersweet," because Sarah's sister, Spc. Tracy Bouret, 25, was still in Iraq with the 142nd.

"Right when you get used to being home again, you have to get on the plane and go back to Iraq," Sarah Bouret said.

"She says, 'Mom, I don't want to go back,"' Leingang said. "I says, 'Well, you don't really have a choice. But you'll be home before you know it.'"

North Dakota Guard members were able to catch a glimpse of home earlier this year when they tuned in to the North Dakota-North Dakota State football game.

"We watched it over here via satellite," Bouret said. "We had our NDSU side and our UND side. It was nice."

Leingang said she is proud of her daughters but cannot keep herself from worrying about their safety.

"When you're a parent, you worry 'til the day you die," she said. "There are sleepless nights."