Lane's photographs reflect the importance of helicopters in her service story: she joined the Illinois National Guard with the express purpose of piloting them, and while in Iraq, she flew over 600 hours of combat missions in helicopters like the UH-60 Black Hawk.

Lane's view from the pilot's seat gave her an incredible view of Iraq's countryside. She got to see everything from dwellings to deserts, commenting in her oral history interview that some parts of Iraq seemed like "the surface of the moon." Her helicopter flew so close to the ground that she could often interact with the civilian population; residents, especially children, would emerge from their houses to wave hello. She and her crew assembled "candy bombs"--small parcels containing candy and other small gifts--and dropped them out the window to be picked up by the civilians below.

At the time of their deployment, Lane had served with her Illinois Army National Guard unit for 10 years, and thus had developed close relationships with her comrades. These friendships deepened during their time in Iraq and continued beyond Lane's time in the service.

Lane received orders for missions on a daily basis, though they would often come in with just a few hours' notice, sometimes in the middle of the night. Luckily, her unit experienced only a couple of casualties, despite the inherent danger of the missions she flew and the frequent mortar attacks she weathered while stationed in Camp Anaconda (Joint Base Balad).