-
At 17, Daniel Hodd was starting a promising career as a concert pianist, but he decided to become a Marine instead. Before his second deployment, he broke a finger and was given a choice: Treat it and stay, or cut it off and deploy.
-
For Navy Lt. Mark Radlinski, coming home from Iraq was both the best and worst day. But his brother had no mixed emotions — it was all positive. When Felicia Banks deployed with the Army, her children were not as aware of what was going on. They knew they were thrilled to have her back, though.
-
Tracy Johnson lost her wife to war, but she didn't lose her family.
-
Gordon Bolar knew he couldn't talk his son Matthew out of joining the military, because "he was a young man who knew what he wanted to do." So, Matthew "served his country, and that was his highest calling," and his father pays tribute to that every day.
-
Spc. Justin Cliburn was in his 20s when he trained Iraqi police in Baghdad. During his deployment, he made friends with a teenager that he says "made every day something I looked forward to." But even their friendship could not escape a violent reality.