Sept. 11 set Sen. Joni Ernst on a path of intensifying commitment to the military, catapulting her from a part-time reserve post to a full-time overseas deployment during the Iraq war.
— an echo of the whole country’s escalating investment in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — helped launch her into an unexpected career in politics.
On Sept. 10, 2001, Ernst was planning her daughter’s second birthday party and settling into a house she and her husband recently bought in her hometown of Red Oak, Iowa. Ernst was looking forward to getting back to full-time employment and had plans to pursue work in counseling and job training, while serving in the Iowa Army National Guard.She was told to stay by the phone in case her Guard unit was activated.
Ernst was not needed that day; she was soon put to work as a temporary technician for the National Guard. She later commanded a National Guard transportation company, and in 2003 her unit was deployed to Kuwait, where they drove supply convoys into Iraq.That elevated her profile among Republican leaders in her hometown who recruited her to run for Montgomery County auditor in 2004 — mostly, she believes, because she demonstrated leadership abroad.
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