Army Specialist Abbie Pickett signed up with the Wisconsin National Guard when she was 17 years old. Pickett served as a heavy equipment operator in Iraq for over a year and has been home since May of 2005. She still struggles with her memories of combat:
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Youth Radio has been gathering the voices of troops returning home from Iraq since the beginning of the war. Specialist Richard Denny is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. He is stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq for 12 months, returning to the states in November 2004. He’s from a family of military men. Both his father and his brother have done tours of duty in Iraq. Read more...
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Twenty-three-year-old Jesus Bocanegra spent four and a half years in the military, including a year as a cavalry scout in Iraq. He’s now out of the military and living with his family in the town of Elsep, TX. But the war is still with him, so much so that he’s been treated for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He shares this story. (November 23 on NPR's All Things Considered)
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Numbers released in October by the U.S. Army recruiting command show that in 2002, African-Americans made up 21 percent of enlisted Army recruits. Their latest numbers for 2004 show African-Americans now represent only 15.6 percent of enlisted recruits. This drop in recruiting has happened since the U.S. invasions of Iraq. Since the war first started, Youth Radio has been collecting stories from a variety of young people in the U.S. military. Youth Radio’s Irie Reyes brings us three of their stories.
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By Chris Kotch
In September 2003, 21-year-old Corporal Chris Kotch was hit by an improvised explosive device while on routine patrol near Al'Fallujah in Iraq. His left vocal chord is now paralyzed, due to a procedure following his injury, and you’ll hear the effects of that damage in his voice. Youth Radio brings us Corporal Kotch's reflections on return from the war, starting with the moment the bomb detonated.
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In September 2003, 21-year-old Corporal Chris Kotch was hit by an improvised explosive device while on routine patrol near Al'Fallujah in Iraq. His left vocal chord is now paralyzed, due to a procedure following his injury, and you’ll hear the effects of that damage in his voice. Youth Radio brings us Corporal Kotch's reflections on return from the war, starting with the moment the bomb detonated.
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Twenty-year-old Gaurav Taneja fought with Second Battalion, 23rd Marines Fox Company when they invaded Iraq. He spent his childhood in India, and joined the U.S. military at 17 years old. Now, Taneja is a college student and a veteran, like thousands of other young U.S.-soldiers who are coming home after completing their first tours. These "Reflections on Return" come from Youth Radio.
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