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Over the course of seven years, Therese Agnes Hughes photographed and interviewed 800 women who served throughout the U.S. military. By documenting them, her goal was to raise awareness of

the commitment and sacrifice women bring to the service.

Hughes became interested in helping female veterans during her career in public service when she noticed that many were not treated the same as their male counterparts.

"They needed help with things like their medals, their flags, getting into appropriate health care at the VA [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs],” she said. “I created this project to

interview women veterans and take photographs of them to raise awareness with other agencies in the United States.”

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After Hughes completed her first 60 interviews, she noticed many of the women said they would join the service again “in a heartbeat.”

"I thought, ‘Oh this is what the military teaches them to say. But it's not,'” she said. “What that spoke to me was a commitment to our freedoms, our democracy, our flag and our nation that

said something about women that I didn't hear before.”

In August 2014, Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, the first women to deploy with an Air Force bomber unit, asked Hughes if she could create something out of her portraits. That Veterans Day, In a

Heartbeat debuted as an exhibition at the Military Women's Memorial located at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The exhibition featured black-and-white portraits of military women, each paired with a quote summarizing her service.

"The reason I chose a quote was because in the interview with the veteran … something they said stuck with me and I felt that was what represented them,” Hughes said. “So, I could represent

to other people why they chose military service."

The exhibit would travel to several other locations, but many of the women and their families were unable to visit the venues honoring them. That inspired Hughes to create a book based on

the exhibition, featuring 113 female veterans from all branches of the U.S. military.

In addition to further honoring the women she interviewed, Hughes hopes that young women of today can look at the portraits and “see someone who looks like them and say, ‘I can do military

service.' ”

These six women are among those featured in the upcoming book In a Heartbeat, due out on March 25, 2021, from publisher Tactical 16:

"Exposure to different jobs helped develop a great background for me. It came in handy on 09/11. My boss said. ‘This is it MAJ Smith. Go stand up our Emergency Center.’ I told myself, ‘You

need to figure it out because others need you to do it.’ I made it work one step at a time."

"I loved serving. I liked my work and when I retired, I had the opportunity to do the most significant work of my life. Look at this. [Gesturing and brightly smiling, Gen. Vaught lifts her

arms, hands upwards and gathers in the interior of the Military Women's Memorial.] This is my most important work!”

"I was in the 6888th for mailing. We had 500 Negro Girls for that big job. We were given a short timeline and we completed the mission in less time than they thought possible.”

"I was selected to play on USMC Women's Basketball Team. I was injured during the game and received a medical discharge. I am a single mom. Medical care was sporadic. I spent time homeless.

I was introduced to rowing. It was one of the things I could do as a paraplegic. I've won four World Championship Gold Medals rowing on the U.S. Rowing Team. I have six Guinness World

Records too."

"I learned so much about each job. Recruiting was the best! The Air Force sold itself and I believed so much in it. If I could do it all over again, I would stay the whole 20 years."

"My father encouraged me to study engineering in school and this created a path for me to follow. I joined ROTC to pay for college."

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