As a soldier, I've served with the most brave people in an institution that's built on integrity, honor, and duty.

I volunteered to deploy to Iraq. I was one of the few soldiers who were not on the mandatory deployment roster - close to 3,000 Hawaii soldiers were.

It is clear that there needs to be a closer working relationship between the United States and India. How can we have a close relationship if decision-makers in Washington know very little, if anything, about the religious beliefs, values, and practices of India's 800 million Hindus?

The cost of war impacts all of us - both in the human cost and the cost that's being felt frankly in places like Flint, Michigan, where families and children are devastated and destroyed by completely failed infrastructure because of lack of investment.

Hopefully the presence in Congress of an American who happens to be Hindu will increase America's understanding of India as well as India's understanding of America.

These days, it's often women in uniform - moms, wives, even grandmothers - who deploy and leave their families behind.

We cannot afford to walk down that dangerous path of government overstepping its boundaries into the most personal parts of our lives.