Veterans told Newsweek that a sense of duty and protectiveness spurred them to fight in Iraq since the start of the war 20 years ago.
The same year, President Bush said there were"numerous contacts between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda," but not that"the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated" between the Iraqi leader and the terrorist organization.
Donna Pratt re-enlisted in the military after 9/11, and eventually deployed to Iraq."I felt like it was something I needed to do," she told Newsweek.In the days that followed, she thought about rejoining the armed forces as she passed a military recruitment center on her way to work. On the third day,"I turned around and went into the recruitment station," she recounted.."And I don't regret my decision at all.
A defining part of the"realities" was a pervasive feeling of paranoia, some former soldiers recount. The conflict was one rooted in urban warfare, and one with a real psychological impact, Cornelius said. Linnington is now the head of the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit supporting veterans and serving personnel who have sustained any form of injury from active duty."My personal thoughts go to those in my unit that sacrificed their lives for the cause," as well as those returning back home wounded, injured or ill, he toldAaron Cornelius now works with the Wounded Warrior Project, having served three tours in Iraq.
It is thought that more than 300,000 Iraqi civilians died as a direct result of the war, according to Brown University estimates. The number of documented Iraqi civilian deaths peaked in 2006 at 29,562 in that year, per Statista figures. But there are certainly"mixed feelings," Cornelius said. Just as the public had conflicting ideas about the war, so did many soldiers gearing up for missions, he added. Small interactions with local residents made him and soldiers"feel good," he said. But this positive feeling wasn't all that greeted U.S. soldiers; Cornelius recalled seeing a 10-year-old boy launch a grenade at U.S. forces, which"really stuck in my head.
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