One week after receiving her Cornell degree in biological and environmental engineering in May 2002, Ruth Levy was attending the Engineer Officer Basic Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. By October she was on active duty in Iraq, where she served through August 2003.

Like so many serving in the coalition forces, her job was to build, not destroy. And, like so many U.S. soldiers, she was redeployed.

In January, Levy, now a captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, returned from her second tour where she was a "wastewater project representative" on the east side of Baghdad, one of the city's least developed areas.

"I worked with contractors to get sewer projects started and managed those projects once they got under way," said Levy, who graduated as a second lieutenant through the Cornell Army ROTC program. "I also worked with local government officials in Baghdad to ensure they were receiving quality service and that it fit in with the city's master plan."

Prior to that command, Levy had served as an assistant operations officer -- or "deputy mayor" for the 2nd Brigade 3rd Infantry Division Brigade Troops Battalion. In that post she oversaw Halliburton's engineering and construction arm, Kellogg Brown and Root, which provided services for the 1,000 soldiers stationed at Forward Operating Base "Loyalty" in Baghdad. The title of deputy mayor was an effort to avoid confusion, she says, as the base wasn't a military post in the strictest sense.

The primitive conditions in the poorer parts of Baghdad reminded her "of a Middle Ages town," she said. Bombing raids in both the Gulf War and Operation Desert Storm (and punitive strikes in between) certainly damaged the city's infrastructure. But Levy said she was surprised to discover that the poorest areas never had proper sewage or utilities in the first place. In the area under her command, there were open sewer trenches in the streets, and many homes lacked running water. Electricity was available only two to four hours a day, if at all.

"For anyone to have to live like these people were living was truly criminal," she said. "There have been a lot of improvements in the infrastructure since then -- there is running water now in many parts of Baghdad, closed sanitations systems and electricity for up to 20 hours a day in some areas. It was very gratifying to work with the local nationals and experience their joy firsthand."

However, the rebuilding work was and remains dangerous. "It was naturally very frustrating to be helping people rebuild and then have your soldiers get injured by those same people."

Levy said through the rebuilding she hoped to earn the trust of the Iraqi citizens, although she recognizes that there were many insurgents from neighboring countries who do not want the allied forces in Iraq. Much of the good work being accomplished, she said, gets lost in much of the reporting about the war.

"I don't think the American people truly understand what the military is really doing with rebuilding," she said. "It is truly incredible to look at how it was when we first got there and then to look at it now. I really do believe the military is doing a good thing over there and that it will be worth it."

Levy finishes active duty in April and then must complete four years of inactive ready reserve duty during which she can still be called up and deployed.

"I have come to terms with the fact that I could lose my life serving my country," she said. "And I'm okay with that because my love for this country and my troops extends beyond any feelings I've ever had."