Local veteran Diana Oestreich has made it her mission to wage peace.

Oestreich was a combat medic involved in the pre-emptive strike in Iraq from 2003-04.

She has a book, podcast, and project by that name: “Waging Peace.” The Waging Peace Project just gave out its inaugural Duluth Peace Hero Award last week.

“This is one of the things being a soldier and being a combat medic: When it hits the fan, you run in. And I think that with the election cycle, there was violence in word and in deed, and that is when you show up,” Oestreich said.

She said she went to war knowing what she was willing to die for: her country.

“But when I got to war is when I really figured out what was worth living for. And that was peace,” Oestreich said.

She translated that into civilian context with the nonprofit and book, teaching and encouraging people to simply show up for each other.

All of her work can be found on dianaoestreich.com.