In 2010, a quiet notice appeared on U.S. Army base bulletin boards. It asked for female volunteers. No mission details were given. No promises were made. Only one thing was clear: the assignment would be dangerous.
Samantha Juan answered the call.
Originally from Bahrain, Juan enlisted in the U.S. Army before she was even an American citizen. Like many immigrants who join the service, she started where she was needed — working as a cook. After earning her U.S. citizenship, she retrained in signals intelligence, preparing for more demanding work.
But the notice she saw in 2010 was different.
It led her to the Cultural Support Team (CST) selection at Fort Bragg, an intense and unforgiving course created for a specific purpose: to allow female soldiers to operate alongside elite units in Afghanistan and reach local women that male troops could not.
By 2012, Juan was deployed to eastern Afghanistan, attached to SEAL Team 6, Red Squadron.
Her role was unlike anything most Americans imagine. She participated in night raids, entered Afghan homes, questioned women, gathered intelligence, and built trust under extreme pressure. Often, she had only minutes to connect with families in the middle of chaos. Sometimes she was surrounded by fear. Other times, by children clinging to her legs.
Over the course of her deployment, Juan completed more than 50 direct-action missions.
When the CST program was later shut down, the war did not simply end for those who served.
Like many veterans, Juan carried the experience home with her. The transition back to civilian life proved to be its own battle. She turned to education, art, and trauma advocacy as a way to rebuild — and to help others understand that the cost of war does not end when the uniform comes off.
Her story is a reminder that some of the most important service happens quietly, far from headlines, and that for many veterans, the hardest fight begins after coming home.