At a time when her college peers are debating what to major in, going to parties, and working jobs they can quit without threat of prosecution, Rosa is a secret traitor. She is a conscientious objector stuck in a National Guard uniform during the War on Terror. When the call comes to ship out, she faces the biggest quandary of her life: stay in an organization she has lost respect for and fulfill her duties, or follow her moral compass, no matter the consequences. This award-winning memoir is about the struggle to do the right thing when right and wrong is not black and white. It's about forbidden romances, moral mind games, and the Army's unnerving ability to function like a family. It's a story about a girl who made a bad choice and had to stand up against a male-dominated apparatus so powerful it has its own laws. It's about digging under those walls and emerging with something to say about the sanctity of youth and a freedom that is truly free. This 2nd edition includes two bonus chapters, a Readers Guide and photographs.

Praise for Breaking Cadence:

"She is a beautiful storyteller as she unravels the ugly truths about good intentions twisted and used by the violent and careless system." — Jodie Evans, co-founder and director of CODEPINK

"Breaking Cadence is a page-turner, a gripping blow-by-blow account of how Rosa del Duca's immersion in military culture comes to a crisis point when her conscience awakens." — Glen David Gold, author of Carter Beats the Devil

"From track star to soldier, from cadet to conscientious objector, Rosa del Duca maps a riveting account of military life and her uneasy metamorphosis in a book that's impossible to put down." — Marilyn Abildskov, author of The Men in My Country

"Honest, beautifully-written, and immensely compelling." — Matthew Zapruder, author of Why Poetry and Sun Bear.