Washington, D.C. ? Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda on Friday arrived in Iraq, where she and other members of Congress hope to get a better sense of the conflict.

“I want to see with my own eyes the country where over 2,000 Kansans serve so bravely every day,” Boyda said in a statement.

Boyda, a Democrat from Topeka whose district includes part of Lawrence, will meet with U.S. troops, visit military facilities and see firsthand “the effects of the Iraqi civil war,” according to the statement from her office.

Boyda is a member of the House Armed Services Committee. This is her first trip to Iraq.