Helen Benedict, the playwright, created these seven monologues from interviews she conducted for her book, THE LONELY SOLDIER: THE PRIVATE WAR OF WOMEN SERVING IN IRAQ (Beacon Press, 2009.) Most of the monologues come from taped interviews, but some are combined with letters the soldiers wrote by e-mail. All are in the actual words of the soldiers. The marching cadences are also all those actually used by soldiers and marines. No words in this play are fictionalized.