Text Box: I spent more than one long night in jail, got waist deep in drugs and alcohol. My ways caused me to loose most of my friends and family. I never realized I was being so cold, uncaring, and mean. Then I lost my girlfriend and it dawned on me, failing to deal with what that one patrol, especially the whole deployment only added to what I had to deal with. So I did some soul searching, got my girl back, and am doing so much better now. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I am jaded due to the war on terror, and I’m lucky to be here. I am not perfect, no one is, but it is experiences like this one that make me the man I am to day, and the man I aspire to be in the future. The war has not only affected me but our country as a whole, along with many others who have served, as well as their families. No different than any other war our country has fought. day, and the man I aspire to be in the future. My point in all this is to give you the reader a grasp on how the war in Iraq has affected  our nation. I want you to see that its affect though major are unlike any war we’ve experienced, yet so much the same. Like Vietnam the war is opposed, but our soldiers are respected not spit on and dishonored like Vietnam era soldiers were treated. Yes like any war our government is pumping billions of dollars into the military, but unlike great wars of the past we don’t feel it in our pockets so much. And like any war loved ones are lost and soldiers are wounded, but the aftercare and the support for those affected is held to a higher standard. In my opinion the U.S. is not an army of one, but an army of a whole nation. In closing just like me our country will have to deal with and overcome the effects of this war. Also just like this country the war will leave permanent scars within me and affect who I am as a person. the war has not only changed out country as an entity but it has changed who I am as a person. I will never forget this war, just like our country will always remember 9/11 and the events that followed. Someday our children will read about this in school, someday my children will read about this in school and they will see what we went through as a country and what I went through as a soldier. Text Box: The moral to my story, and the method to my madness.

FROM REBEL TO RECRUIT

The U.S. an Army of One

CONCLUSION